Using Social Media in Breaking News, a handout compiled by Michelle Guido for her Planning for Breaking News session at Orlando NewsTrain on May 15-16, 2015. Instructor Michelle Guido offers a a checklist for constructing a breaking-news coverage plan. Guido is a journalist with 25 years of award-winning work across print, digital and television platforms. Most recently, she was managing editor of WESH 2 News, the NBC affiliate in Orlando.

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Using social media in breaking news
Michelle Guido | @mguido | michelleguido31@yahoo.com
Planning for breaking news in the digital age
Social media has become an invaluable tool for journalists. It enables us to report
breaking news quickly, see what others are reporting, and expand our virtual
source list beyond what was possible just a few years ago.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can be used to crowdsource a breaking news
story, find and cultivate eyewitness and expert sources, and help us learn about
people and organizations involved in a news event.
There are some great guides out there for utilizing social media in breaking news
situations.
From Twitter’s best practices for journalists:
“Some reporters turn to Twitter as a virtual notebook — using it to collect and
provide real-time updates on breaking news events. Others use it as a way to
point readers to their work or to share their perspective on a particular topic….
“Applying these simple methods will improve your performance on Twitter.”
Tweet your beat
“Live-tweeting or posting updates about a news event happening on your beat is a
great way to increase engagement and follower growth.”
Use hashtags for context
“Hashtags can increase engagement with other Twitter users by almost 100% for
journalists and 50% for news organizations. Using hashtags is also a great way to
report or follow breaking news. When you include hashtags in your tweets, your
tweets become more visible, and you have a better chance of attracting followers.”
Above from Twitter’s best practices for journalists:
https://media.twitter.com/best-practice/for-newsrooms-and-journalists
Using social media for newsgathering In breaking news situations –
especially those that quickly earn hashtags (#BostonMarathon, #BostonBombing
#GeorgeZimmerman, #Ferguson #Icantbreathe, #hurricanesandy) – Twitter and
Instagram can be used for newsgathering and gaining sources.

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Last year, Universal Orlando held an impromptu soft opening of the Wizarding
World of Harry Potter and didn’t alert the media. All of a sudden, videos and
photos of the new attraction were all over Twitter, and by using the #HarryPotter
hashtag, we were able to ask people for permission to use their photos and videos
online and on the air.
Use Gramfeed http://www.gramfeed.com/ to search for Instagram images
tagged with keywords.
Facebook can be helpful as a newsgathering tool as well because if you have
someone’s name and the right Facebook page, you can search for friends and
family members to talk to.
Always get permission before using photos/video from social media
sites
Just because it’s on social media doesn’t mean it’s true
Remember – verification is KEY. One of the best resources I’ve seen on this issue
is Nieman Reports’ “Truth in the Age of Social Media.” A downloadable PDF of
the entire report can be found at http://niemanreports.org/issues/summer-
2012/
From the intro of that report: “Verifying information has always been central to
the work of journalists. These days the task has taken on a new level of
complexity due to the volume of videos, photos and tweets that journalists face.
It’s not only the volume that presents challenges but the sophisticated tools that
make it easier than ever to manipulate information.”
In a piece by David Turner, about vetting information, members of the BBC’s
User-Generated Content Hub offered tips for determining the veracity of videos
and photographs:
“Try to talk to the original source of the material. You will quickly form an
instinctive feeling about whether the person is telling the truth….
“If material seems too good to be true, be skeptical—but keep an open mind….
“Use technology to help you. Examples include Google Earth (to confirm that the
features of the alleged location match the photo) and TinEye [to see if the photo
has appeared online before]. But do not do so at the expense of journalistic
instinct.”
Above from “Vetting Information” in Nieman Reports by David Turner:
http://niemanreports.org/articles/vetting-information/

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Another useful resource is the book, Verification Handbook: A Definitive Guide
to Verifying Digital Content for Emergency Coverage, edited by Craig
Silverman, and available free online at http://verificationhandbook.com/ or in
paperback for $12.27.
A few notes on effective SEO (search-engine optimization):
In breaking news situations, particularly competitive ones, it’s extremely
important to have good SEO. Some basic rules for good SEO include making sure
that your SEO fields (slugs, SEO keywords and SEO headlines) as well as the
actual headline on the story and lead include some version of your SEO
keywords.
Some great tips – including examples of bad, good and great SEO – can be found
at http://mashable.com/2012/05/08/google-seo-headlines/.
One of those tips says that very literal (some would say boring) headlines work
best because algorithms don’t appreciate wit or irony. That article holds out this
headline from the Huffington Post as genius clickbait: “What time is the Super
Bowl?”
The reason that it works is because it mirrors what people will type into Google
when looking for the answer to that question.
At the Orlando Sentinel, we did something very similar throughout the George
Zimmerman trial, posting very short stories with headlines such as: “George
Zimmerman trial: What time are opening statements?” or “Will George
Zimmerman testify?”