While some use social media just for fun, I use social media as a tool to enhance my career.
As an aspiring news broadcaster and political junkie, social media allows me to create an online portfolio of my reporting and news aggregation. This can be invaluable for when I apply for jobs in the near future, with news stations putting a higher level of importance on social media presence and connecting with viewers online.
The Charlottesville PD is unloading the first trailer of supplies in Rupert, WV #wvflooding pic.twitter.com/KamRPnvrVe
— Paul Dwyer (@P_Dwy) June 28, 2016
When reporting, tweeting out the latest breaking news can grow your follower base as well as preview stories that will be on the news later in the day. By previewing stories on social media and garnering buzz, viewership for the news can increase, which is definitely what news bosses are looking for.
I also use my social media accounts to follow the latest national and international news, especially politics. By following reporters and media agencies, I get the latest news all in one place. Through tweeting and retweeting, I can turn my Twitter into my own news aggregation feed.
#BREAKING: 3 officers dead, 10 officers shot total #Dallas https://t.co/cR8KRJn8ti
— Paul Dwyer (@P_Dwy) July 8, 2016
On top of all of this, social media is entertaining and an amazing way to keep up with friends. Social media lets me show what’s going on in my life to my friends, while I can see what’s going on in their lives.
The role social media plays in my life is huge, and will only get bigger as my career continues.
Hi Paul! I really enjoyed reading your post and agreed with many of the points you made. I also use social media as a way to follow news and aggregate posts that are relevant and interesting to me. Also, I never thought about social media as a type of portfolio, but I think that is a very good point. Especially for your field, sharing content that you produce is a great way to showcase your work and get feedback from others in the industry. It is definitely something to remember as we get ready to graduate and start our career. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I totally agree with all of this! A social media profile can tell a lot about a person, especially their work when they use it professionally. We live in an age where more people get their news from the internet and social media sites rather than actual TV or radio broadcasts. It’s so important to get your content out there, and to do it in a timely fashion.
As a broadcast major myself, I related to a lot of what you included in this. What really stuck out to me was how you were able to explain that tweeting out breaking news and using certain hashtags can help grow your follower base and possibly could make you a more trustworthy news source. It was also intriguing how you included that you have almost turned your twitter feed into your own news aggregation feed. Here, you are able to have all the information you need at the tip of your fingers from local to international news.
I totally agree with you Paul, I think social media really helps enhancing your career and it gives you an advantage. As a reporter you need to get information very fast and using Twitter is a great tool to acquired it as you mentioned in your blog post!!!
Hi Paul, I really enjoyed your post because I literally do the same with social media. I spent a long time in Twitter finding out breaking news stories (international mostly). As you said, when you tweet or retweet on braking news stories you gain followers and engagement. I constantly do that with topics that are important for me. I really like your perspective on how social media will help you find a job. I agree that is key to show how social media could be a news gathering platform , specially now that journalism is changing so much.
Thank you for providing such a detailed perspective on following the news and broadcasting news on Twitter. I had a hard time getting used to Twitter professionally before taking this class, but always appreciated the quick details that individual reporters and channels publish to keep the public informed. I often prefer following journalists over the publications that they write or report for because rather than directing you to an unfinished story on the channel’s website, they are tweeting to provide real-time information.
Hi Paul, I would definitely agree with a lot of the points you made here. I was especially interested to hear about how you think social media is like an online portfolio. On top of that, it really is just a great way to get your name out there by bouncing ideas around with other people online.