Sunday, November 17, 2013

Brian Stelter shows personal brands rival media brands

Versión en español aquí.

For several years I have been using Brian Stelter, the media columnist and TV commentator, as an example to students of how a young journalist can build a personal brand. 

He did not attend a famous university and
had no special family connections. Yet he quickly made a name for himself online by creating a blog that thrived on timely, high-quality journalism.

I always include a slide showing the number of his Twitter followers (lately, 200,000) and pose the question: "How much longer will Brian Stelter need the New York Times?"


As it turned out, not very long. Stelter was just hired away from the Times by CNN to host "Reliable Sources" and be their media reporter.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Journalists have to market their work in social media

Versión en español aquí.

A young acquaintance was applying for an online reporting job at an internationally renowned news organization.

But the interviewer did not focus on the job candidate's articles. He wanted to know more about the metrics of audience engagement with the candidate's stories -- time spent, social sharing, search traffic.

How had the candidate used social media to capture readers? How effective were the tactics? What measurement tools had he used to gauge effectiveness?

In other words, did this job candidate understand how to capture and interact with the audience on the web?