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So, we're all on Twitter. What about Facebook?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Kayaugstin Kott, Feb 5, 2016.

  1. MNgremlin

    MNgremlin Active Member

    Maybe the target audience isn't people who are already readers, but rather prospective readers? The goal is building your brand, not just reaching the ones who already subscribe.
     
  2. Rhody31

    Rhody31 Well-Known Member

    How? By bringing customers in. It's cheap customer acquisition. Someone reads a couple funny or interesting tweets, the start to follow. Then they start clicking stories, checking daily blogs and maybe paying for extra content.
    What else would writers be doing during a game? I'll tell you what they'd do - make comments amongst themselves they could easily disseminate and use to help their paper acquire readers.
    Instead, they fight it or do minimal work, then take a buyout when it comes up.
     
  3. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member


    Not if you're fucking writing on deadline during the game like most of us. Halftime and during timeouts is where I get three-fourths of my work done. I never eat the shit they serve in the media room anyway. I don't want to die young, much less be a fat pig like most sports writers.
     
  4. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I use Facebook more to connect with family, friends and formerly (and some currently) hot female former classmates.

    I am generally less of a smartass on Facebook. People can have their rants and deal with their issues.

    On Twitter, I am more apt to call out fans or fanboi media types acting like assholes. But you risk getting hammered if you do.
     
    Flash likes this.
  5. SFIND

    SFIND Well-Known Member

    I dumped my personal Facebook account three years ago and have a page with about 500 followers.

    I have about 1,500 Twitter followers (started in 2009) here in Podunk, Ohio who follow for my high school coverage. I've built my Twitter without Rhody's suggestion of being a "personality." No joking, opinions or analysis. I wouldn't want to analyze a professional game (there are plenty of other unoriginal blowhards on Twitter for that), let alone critique the play of 16-year-olds. I tweet facts and information related to the beat, post live scores of games, Vine videos, photos and links to articles. Do some very light interaction with readers, mostly by providing information if asked for it (have been asked for opinions and will never, ever give one).

    I think my method is plenty effective. For comparison's sake, there's a another reporter close to me who was on a mid-major college basketball beat near here for a few years who now works for Scripps. He spouts off on whatever topic he pleases and loves the interaction with fans. He joined 2009 (six months before me) and has sent 26,000 tweets in that time. I've sent 8,000 in that time. He has a over 900 less followers than I have. Maybe tweeting every inane thought that comes across your mind while watching a game isn't what people really want to read.
     
    Doc Holliday likes this.
  6. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    More of a consumer on Twitter. Follow political and sports reporters, and current presidential candidates. Learned through experience you do not want to get in Twitter wars.
     
  7. MNgremlin

    MNgremlin Active Member

    Just a note on that, Twitter also counts retweets towards that count. So if he likes to retweet things, that number will appear higher than it really is.
     
  8. MNgremlin

    MNgremlin Active Member

    Let's go back to the original premise of the thread. Is it worthwhile to have a Facebook like page? This isn't about looking at baby pictures or connecting with family members, but about a chance to promote and expand your brand.
     
  9. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I would keep a personal Facebook page (if desired) and use the professional Facebook page to post stories, videos, news, links, blog entreis, etc. Maybe use it to reach out and ask questions of readers, etc.

    Thing with Twitter, is if you post something and it doesn't get traction right away, it pretty much vanishes. Facebook has a different pace and crowd.

    If people use the comments opportunity to rip the paper, don't argue with them.
     
  10. JRoyal

    JRoyal Well-Known Member

    I think it can be very useful if you're known enough in your area. But a well-maintained page by your paper is just as if not more important. You could use your personal page to share your own work and related stories at your paper as well as things you find that might be interesting to your readers but that don't warrant a full blog or story of your own.

    We get more traffic from Facebook than Twitter, by far. I think that's true at a lot of newspapers. It really just depends on your market. Are more of your readers on Facebook or Twitter? Do you want them sharing your stories on Facebook, or the local TV station's?
     
  11. MNgremlin

    MNgremlin Active Member

    This is something that frustrates me about my current shop. We have a main page and then a separate one for our sports section, but the sports one never gets updated or promoted. Only 50 likes (main page has over 1,500) and nothing has been posted since August. That's part of why I've considered starting my own page, but it's a small enough shop that maybe it isn't worth it.
     
  12. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    I've always thought of the Twitter audience as folks who are working and can't get to a game, or are out of town (college students, grandparents or military). And the athletes that follow me love to retweet when I mention them.
     
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