3 easy hacks to amp up your WordPress site

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

By Madison Feller

You already know that your personal website is an essential part of your toolbox. It showcases who you are, what you're about and what you can do. But how do you personalize your Wordpress site to make it just a little bit more functional and creative? We have three quick hacks you can use to make it that much better.

Journalists who are winning the social media game

By Kara Tabor

Beau Giles/Flickr

Last week, we brought you our How to Stand Out From the Crowd event along with live coverage here on the ONA Mizzou blog. Our alumni panel covered how to leverage your personal website and what social media visibility means for building your personal brand.

As social media has become an important tool for news consumers and journalists alike, many in the media use Twitter to craft independent brands. Here are just a few examples of journalists who have tweeted their own paths.

Three simple dos and don'ts for every Twitter user

By Maria Davison

Image by Jurgen Appelo

Everyone says that you should be using Twitter. And they’re probably right. Twitter is a great tool for doing journalism, for consuming journalism and for, like, knowing things about the world. But like most social media, there is a wrong way and a right way to use Twitter.

Do: Share articles that you find interesting

When I say interesting, I mean things that are actually interesting to you. Share content that actually deals with things you care about. I am a big art and history nerd and scrolling back through my Twitter, a lot of the things I share fall into those categories. Stories about Pompeii and Google Art Project and a long-lost Stradivarius are some recent personal favorites.

How to survive your reporting semester

Photo courtesy of mojourcomm via Wikimedia Commons

By Ryan Levi

We have a unique opportunity as journalism students at Mizzou. We get to work in professional newsrooms as part of our course work. Every day, students report for an NBC affiliate, an NPR member station and a community newspaper.

It's great experience, and it's also a lot of work. But you can get through it. I asked around on Twitter and Facebook and got some tips and advice from folks who have been there and done it.

Journalists are in high demand ... at tech companies

By Sarah Darby

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Keiyac

June has been a big month for job openings in journalism, but not at the companies you might imagine.

In the midst of a new round of layoffs from legacy media company Dow Jones, Apple and Twitter have announced they will soon hire journalists to help run their news services.

What makes these announcements unique is the role journalists will soon play at the companies. Although many companies have former journalists on staff, this is one of the first times two tech-giants have expressed a need for journalists to, well, do journalism.

How to #JICONF If You Missed #JICONF

By Madison Feller

photo by Shelby Mann

Last weekend, the Missouri School of Journalism and RJI hosted #JICONF, or Journalism Interactive, the conference on journalism education and digital media. Throughout the weekend, professionals and students participated in panels and workshops about newsroom analytics, viral content, innovations and more. But if you weren't able to attend any of the weekend's events, you can still catch up. Here's the ONA Mizzou guide to learning from #JICONF—even if you didn't actually go to #JICONF:

On taking a break...again

By Katy Mersmann

From Flickr user Jason Howie

We have talked about it before: the need to take a break and a breather from the newsroom to maintain some semblance of sanity. At Mizzou, we've taken to calling it #MyPersonal45, encouraging student journalists to take a 45 minute break, everyday, from work and stress and do something they really care about. (And then tweet and tell us what they do!)

So, it was kind of fitting when I was perusing the national ONA Twitter account and saw a link to a Poynter story about the mental exhaustion social media managers and reporters face when following graphic, disturbing stories. The problem is especially pervasive right now, with images of horrific executions of journalists coming out of Syria. Poynter quotes Bruce Shapiro, executive director of The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, who mentions that the images and stories can be especially challenging because so many of the social media managers following them are young and inexperienced, and not used to viewing extreme suffering.

Networking tips from ONA14

By Maria Davison

From Flickr user Lars Plougmann

We constantly hear about how important networking is as young journalists. Networking is key for students as we’re looking for internships and jobs. But how do we best go about meeting professionals, striking up conversations, and keeping in touch? Here are some networking tips from a few friends of ONA Mizzou who were able to make it to the ONA conference in Chicago this September.

Journalism on your wrist

Courtesy of Flickr User Mark Johnson

By Katy Mersmann

A few weeks ago, Apple announced its newest products: two new iPhones and the Apple Watch. The iPhones really caught the most attention and now that they've been released to the public, coverage of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus has been significant, especially with the advent of "Bendgate."

But recently, a classmate shared a blog post with me addressing the question of how the Apple Watch, and other wearable technology, will impact journalism. Mario García runs a tech blog called García Media, that looks at the intersection of journalism and technology, and he raises some interesting questions about whether wearable technology will push journalism even further into the world of "at a glance."

Welcome back, Journalism Tigers!

By Katy Mersmann

Creative Commons photo from Wikipedia user AdamProcter

Hi and welcome back to Mizzou! We’re so excited for a new year of Online News Association and we are looking forward to getting started. We’re planning a variety of events to help students grow and develop their skills as news writers and editors, as well as provide a place to network with each other and media professionals.

Study shows Facebook leads in news views

By Hannah Schmidt

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons

My Twitter feed is filled with news organizations, from The Huffington Post to CNN to BBC News. And whenever I find an interesting story, my first instinct is to retweet the link. But a new Pew Research Center study shows it might be time I start sharing articles on Facebook, too.

Sixty four percent of U.S. adults, with an adult classified as a user 18 years or older, use Facebook. Nearly half of these users view news from the site. These numbers should encourage news organizations to invest in building a stronger Facebook presence to gain more attention from this demographic.

5 Social media lessons we learned from Brian Stelter

By Bridgit Bowden

ONA Mizzou Exec Board with Brian Stelter.
Photo by Laura Davison

Last week, ONA Mizzou brought New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter to Mizzou to speak to students.

On Tuesday, Nov. 10, Stelter gave a lecture on digital identity and online entrepreneurship.  One of the topics he talked about most was how journalists should use social media.

We used the hashtag #StelterONA to keep up with the online discussion during his talk.  Here are 5 social media lessons we took away and tweets from people who got to hear his lecture.

Event Alert: New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter to discuss digital identity

By Andrew Gibson

Photo used with permission
from Brian Stelter

Journalism professors often say running a successful blog can lead to a full-time reporting job. ONA Mizzou and the Mizzou Business Journalism Association are bringing living proof to campus.

Join us as New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter shares how he turned his blog TVNewser, a hub for news about TV journalism, into a full-time job at the paper right after graduating from college. Featured in the True/False documentary “Page One: Inside The New York Times,” Stelter will give tips on maximizing digital identity to impress future employers.

WHEN
7 p.m., Nov. 5

WHERE
Fisher Auditorium (88 Gannett Hall)

PRICE
Free and open to the public

Five takeaways from ONA 2013 for students

By Elise Schmelzer

The student newsroom at ONA13.
Photo courtesy of Laura Davison.

For some, this weekend was filled with tailgating and college football. Others spent the weekend in Atlanta learning about the future of digital journalism at the Online News Association's annual conference.

Laura Davison, an MU graduate student and former secretary of ONA Mizzou, was selected to work in the conference's student newsroom. Along with 19 other students, she spent the weekend recording the conference through blog posts, tweets and videos. From what they've collected, here are five ideas from the conference that students can apply to their own work.

10 questions to ask before shooting your next Vine

By Andrew Gibson

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

How difficult can it be to shoot six seconds of smartphone video?

Turns out, pretty difficult. Twitter's video-based social network Vine presents many challenges typical of social platforms -- gaining and maintaining followers, for instance -- but also some unique to its format. Shooting a good Vine requires much forethought about how you can possibly grab viewers' interest, convey your message and provide context in so short a time. I'd argue six seconds is far more challenging than 140 characters.

Hence this post. These questions serve as a checklist to go through before making a Vine. Now, you might be thinking this: I watched your Vines, and they weren't too impressive. I agree. My 15 or so Vines will not earn me a Pulitzer or Webby or whatever category they might fit under. However, what I have done is watch hundreds of Vines created by people who are talented -- enough to where I felt comfortable making this list. To be honest, this post is rather selfish because I'm writing these down as much for my benefit as for yours.

Journalists partially to blame for false Hurricane Sandy tweets

By Erin Dismeier

It's hard not to love Twitter. It's useful to journalists trying to push out the most up-to-date information, and it gains special importance during disasters like Hurricane Sandy, which hit the East Coast last week. Although the real-time social media platform has its upsides, rumors spreading 140 characters at a time became a big problem during the storm.

Many were outraged by the account ComfortablySmug, which tweeted false information about Sandy. BuzzFeed learned the person behind  the handle was Shashank Tripathi and deemed him "Hurricane Sandy's worst Twitter villain." Two of the biggest falsehoods Tripathi spread were about a citywide blackout in Manhattan and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange flooding. Some of his tweets were retweed more than 500 times.

Tripathi did send out a formal apology to New Yorkers and admitted to spreading the false information. But looking closer at what happened, it's worth asking: Are journalists somewhat to blame?

Facebook mobile-ad revenue expected to grow, but still looking for business model

By Erin Dismeier

Facebook's mobile-ad revenue is projected to grow, but
the service is still looking for a sustainable mobile model.

Facebook or Twitter?  Even though Facebook achieved popularity sooner, a recent report by online marketing-research firm eMarketer shows Twitter in 2012 will take in more U.S. mobile-ad revenue than Facebook.

This is partially because Promoted Tweets, a huge ad-revenue source for Twitter, are well-integrated into the service's "core user experience," making the "shift toward displaying mobile advertisements relatively simple," according to eMarketer. 

"Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO, boasts that Twitter was developed with mobile in mind," according to Digital Trends. "As the company began selling mobile ads earlier this year, just weeks into its mobile ad program, the company garnered more ad revenue from its Promoted Tweets program on its mobile platform than on its desktop app."

The live tweeting handbook

By Ashley Crockett

We've already covered how to verify the credibility of real-time news on Twitter. But what if you're the one tweeting live coverage?

During every ONA Mizzou meeting, our social media coordinator, Andrew Gibson, sits with fingers poised, ready to share the events unfolding before him with @ONAMizzou's Twitter followers. He even makes it easy to search specifically for live tweets by using the simple hashtag #ONAMizzou.

As part of an RJI collaboration with Illinois Public Media, student volunteers will help live tweet during a webcast event today, Nov. 15. Opportunities like this are a good way to show potential employers that you have experience using social media to deliver news and information for a professional news outlet.

Read on for guidance in the still-evolving art of live tweeting.

How social networking is transforming television

By Addison Walton

Over the last few years, social networking has done many things for journalism. From Facebook Pages to Twitter click-throughs, many are aware of the wonders social media has done for journalism. What some people might be surprised to find out is that social networking is doing a lot more than we thought for television.

From basic cable to ESPN3, social networking is playing a huge role in all things television. A study from Nielsen recently revealed some interesting statistics regarding social buzz and ratings that might surprise some folks.

A "hashtagged" dugout in the most recent World Series.

The study found a number of interesting tidbits, including the fact that women ages 18-34 drive the ratings of certain shows more than men do. They also found that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the two most popular days of the week to talk about on TV on social networking sites. This statistic coincides with another interesting finding in the study. The word most associated with social buzz was winning (not bi-winning, sorry Charlie Sheen). Again, this makes sense because the most heavily watched reality shows ("American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," "The X Factor" and "Survivor") air on these two days.

Tips for evaluating the credibility of real-time information

By Ashley Crockett

Everyone is plugged in these days, consuming news at lightning-fast speed. Even the news of Osama bin Laden's death broke on Twitter before President Obama announced it.

This photo of a shark in a Puerto Rican street after Hurricane
Irene was nothing more than a clever editing job. (Helablog)

At the 2011 ONA Conference in Boston, Craig Silverman and Mandy Jenkins led a session called "B.S. Detection for Journalists," which was full of tips for quickly determining a source's reliability.

For breaking news on Twitter, try to track down who first reported the information. Then, go through this checklist:

- When was the account created?
- Is this a regularly updated account?
- Is there a picture?
- Do they have "normal" followers?
- Do they interact with other users?

If all that checks out, find the person's Klout score, or Google the name and handle of the account. If nothing seems suspicious, contact the user.

This next step is critical: get the person's phone number and call them for more information.

Find out where the information originated. Ask, "Did you witness this? Can you tell me what exactly happened and when? If not, where did you get the information?" Follow up by asking who else might have the information.

Now, you're still not ready to completely trust what you've been told. Look at the tweets leading up to and following the breaking news to see if they follow a logical order.

If that all seems legitimate, contact official sources and search Twitter to see if any reputable accounts are reporting the same thing. Don't forget to try reaching out to your followers for help verifying the information.

The biggest step in determining whether or not you should share the information is answering one question: Is it worth the risk if the information is wrong?

For even more tips for credibility checks online, take a look at Silverman and Jenkins' presentation slides.