Category: media

Why it’s important to share your news via social media

More proof that social media is altering the way news is consumed and distributed: A recent study of news consumption trends from the Pew Internet and American Life Project points to the growing socialization of news content.

For people under 30, digital — and social — is the preferred method to share and get news content, according to the Pew study, which says that one-third of people under 30 get their news from social networks. A slightly higher percentage of that age group (34 percent) watched TV news, but only 13 percent read print or digital newspaper content.

Translate this to the higher education sphere. All colleges and universities are media organizations to some degree. Some institutions are more sophisticated than others, but we all generate tons of content, and we push it out through newsletters, alumni publications, our official websites and our social media platforms, to name a few. Since one-third of the under-30 demographic gets their news from social media, it stands to reason that at least that proportion of our under-30 stakeholders — young alumni, current and prospective students, younger faculty and staff — will follow suit. In fact, it’s a good bet that an even greater proportion of the under-30 people connected to higher ed institutions use social media to get their news.

How are we taking advantage of social media to share our news?

Are we leveraging our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn sites to distribute news from our university?

News-sharing should be a key component of our digital content and connection strategy. Let’s not toss out the good ol’ alumni magazine yet, but let’s think about how alumni news could — and should — be shared via social media to meet the preferences of that under-30 group of alumni. Let’s think about how to reuse content from the employee e-newsletter to communicate with our younger faculty and staff. Let’s remind ourselves that students don’t check email as often as they check their social media accounts.

Let’s start thinking about social media as more than a marketing channel. Let’s look at it as a news distribution channel as well.

Lazy journos calling

Sometimes we think we’re being clever or creative, when in fact we’re just being lazy.

We who write for a living sometimes think we’ve hit upon some ingenious pop-culture reference for a headline, lead or phrase to weave into our story or blog post. Too often it falls flat.

I know this because I’ve tried this technique, here and elsewhere. Sometimes it works. Other times it’s too clever — the joke is so far inside that I’m the only one who gets it. Many times we’re part of a herd of lazy writers who think in cliches.

Such is the case for about a zillion journalists right now, as we prepare for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

“London Calling” — the title song from the Clash’s 1979 album — has become a favorite phrase among headline writers lately. It has quickly become hackneyed.

Here’s a small sample of recent headlines about the upcoming games:

Maybe it’s testament to the continuing influence of that 1979 album that “London Calling” has become such a popular phrase for today’s headline writers. (Many are probably my age and remember the album and song well.) More likely, it’s just a slothful way to try to infuse our headlines with a bit of pop culture zing (from a 33-year-old album).

But the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony is  still weeks away. So I’m afraid we’ve got a lot of “London Calling” references ahead of us. You’d think one or two enterprising journalists would take the time to search Google, see that the phrase is overdone, and maybe come up with a fresher pop culture reference.

To those distressed journos who are struggling to come up with something more connected to today’s pop culture landscape, I am happy to offer my assistance. So call me, maybe?

Image: Cover of the Clash’s 1979 album London Calling. Photo by Pennie Smith. The photo depicts Clash bassist Paul Simonon destroying his instrument on the stage of the Palladium in New York City in September 1979. (More info.)