Following is a roundup of 10 interesting PR- and media-related stories found online last week:
A Journalist's Guide to Reddit: Last Wednesday, President Obama took part in an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") on Reddit. (For the uninitiated, an AMA is "an open Q&A thread where one notable person answers questions from everyone else.") While Reddit didn't need the president's participation to establish its legitimacy, it's a call to journalists to start paying attention to a site that's becoming increasingly mainstream and culturally relevant. However, getting acclimated to the world of Reddit takes some education. This guide covers basic things like subreddits, the site's stance on self-promotional links and its broader definition of news. (Poynter)
Tips for Earning Respect in the PR Industry: Capable, young PR professionals are often given big responsibilities that come with a lot of pressure to perform, but respect is not always part of this package. Among the 10 tips included here for earning respect in the PR industry are to dress like an adult, balance causal banter with a serious demeanor and act as your own PR agent. (PR Daily)
Twitter and Political Journalism: Twitter has changed the game of political journalism, but is that good or bad? Controversial remarks spread much quicker than they did four years ago, pressuring campaigns to respond faster. On the other hand, Twitter and other social networks allow people to defuse incorrect or silly reports faster. The consequences of sources being able to "go direct" will be more apparent as the election draws closer. (GigaOM)
Traditional Journalism Is Connected to News via Social Media: Eric Carvin, social media editor at the Associated Press (AP), doesn't see it as "traditional journalism versus news over social media." Rather, he sees the two sides as connected, with social media providing up-to-the-minute information, and journalists verifying that information and putting it in a bigger context. Carvin also notes that social media can create closer ties between journalists and readers. His goal is for all of AP's 2,500 journalists to use social media well, not just to promote stories but to make stories better. (The Content Strategist)
Mobile Users Prefer News From Trusted Mainstream News Sites: According to the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute's "2012 Media News Consumption Survey," 61.8 percent of mobile users prefer news stories produced by professional journalists. However, 30.6 percent of respondents said they don't trust the mainstream media. (Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute)
More Than 20 Percent of U.S. Newspapers Have Online Pay Walls: More than one in five U.S. newspapers have now put up pay walls requiring subscriptions for full online access to content. According to News&Tech, the number of papers with some form of metered pay walls or digital subscription plans has doubled since last year. (Mashable)
Thirty-Five Nuggets of PR Advice: "Public Relations is a marathon, and not a sprint." That was the best bit of public relations advice this PR professional received when he was fresh out of college. What advice do other PR practitioners want to pass on to the next generation of professionals in their field? Among the 35 bits of advice included in this post are: "Media/PR world is a small world, so don’t burn any bridges"; "When you walk into a meeting with a client, say one smart thing and ask one smart question"; and "Tell the truth faster." (fresh as.... A Mynt Public Relations Blog)
Fact-Checking and the Media's Crisis of Confidence: Paul Ryan's speech at the Republican National Convention brought a question to the minds of journalists and commentators: "Can the media stop politicians from misleading the public?" Journalists should remember to remind readers of bogus claims and cover a pattern of false claims as an ongoing story. They should also remember that whenever someone who could be the next president or vice president of the nation makes a false claim, it's always worth honoring their duty to truth, not the marketplace or people they cover. (Columbia Journalism Review)
How the Desert News Supports a Local Newsroom With a National Strategy: Here's a look at how Salt Lake City's Desert News is approaching the challenge facing most American metropolitan newspapers: "A local web audience isn’t large enough to support the newsroom, but a national audience can get national news from anywhere." The Desert News is faring well, as its digital revenue grew at more than 50 percent annually for the past three years and now accounts for more than a quarter of total revenue. The core of its success is an editorial strategy that focuses on issues not sufficiently covered by other news organizations and a digital unit that comes up with Web-only products. (Nieman Journalism Lab)
Ten Reasons Why I Hate Social Media: This social media coordinator and graphic designer shares 10 reasons why she hates social media. "Because I’m so immersed in it, occasionally there are things about it that make me want to throw staplers across the room in hopes that a rogue staple will somehow fly out and hit someone in the eye." Among the reasons are: typos/grammatical errors, the fleeting nature of content and the difficulty of proving ROI. (The Abbi Agency)
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