Understanding “Citizen Journalism” – A Social Media Primer

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr, Skype. Welcome to the new world of social media. It’s a medium that takes many forms, including tweets, postings, blogs, podcasts and instant messaging, to name a few. Today, anyone with a smartphone can become a “citizen journalist” and transmit information about your organization’s project or issue faster than any news release can be written or released. This half-day tutorial or full-day training offers a map of the social media landscape and how employees can deploy social media techniques within your organization’s social media guidelines.

Participants will learn:

• What social media is and isn’t.
• Fundamentals of communicating via social media outlets – the dos and don’ts.
• How organizations effectively deploy social media tools and techniques.
• Ways to use social media within the context of your organizational guidelines on use of such media.
• Your organization’s current guidelines for social media use.

During a group exercise, participants will develop messages on relevant case studies for use on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Participants will receive a customized Guide to Social Media.