Using Facebook and MySpace for Story Ideas

OK, say you've just graduated and haven't captured that first reporting job, but you're eager to cover a story. You'd like to build some clips, get involved in a new newspaper, do some freelance work, get some post-college experience or all of the above. But you need time to job search as well.

A great way to combine these is to hit up Facebook or MySpace to build a source list of people in your chosen publication's area and dig up stories. Then you can pitch your ideas to an editor.

Benefits

A tremendous advantage of social networking Web sites is that they enable long-distance reporting--they let you be there without "being there." You can meet people online, interview them over the phone, write your story and then E-mail it to an editor.

Most social networking sites have tons of pictures to accompany your article, so you can just take your pick of the ones most fitting to your content and attach them in your E-mail. Be sure to ask permission to use them and attribute the photos in the newspaper.

Social networking websites are especially useful for generating story ideas in an area that's unfamiliar to you, but they are strong tools even if you are knowledgeable about the region. In addition to landing stories and impressing editors, the interviewees you contact through these sites will be appreciative that you sought them out. It will inevitably lead to more stories.

Clearly, this technique is also effective in your first actual job. The same concept applies--meet people online, get stories and then schedule interviews in person. Social networking websites make reaching a newspaper and getting published in it possible--all from the comfort of your own home, while you're job hunting.

My friend Mark Potts, former editor and reporter at the Washington Post, supports the use of social networking sites in today's newsrooms.

"Every newsroom should be looking for local stories via social networks the same way they watch competitive papers in their market," he said. "In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy last spring, some enterprising reporters wisely used Facebook to track down Tech students for comments. Smart idea, and just the tip of the iceberg."

Ironically, Mark and I met online, through his blog about the newspaper industry called "Recovering Journalist." He offers sophisticated analysis of the field and how journalists can improve their deliverance of news through progressive means. In his journalism career, he has also worked for the Chicago Tribune.

Best Sites to Use

Some of the most popular general social networking sites (according to user count) are Classmates.com, MySpace.com, Friendster.com, Hi5.com, Facebook.com and Xanga.com. For sports coverage, Sportsvite.com is great. Flickr.com is heavily geared toward photo sharing, so it's a tremendous source for photos. LiveJournal.com is incredible for narratives or features, because the information is so personal and it allows you to see the personality of the source so strongly. And Twitter.com is a bit different from the standard social networking site, and honestly, I don't think it's very useful for reporting. But its popularity is exploding, and a major benefit of the site is that it thrives off of frequent updates.

Progressive Method

Let me clarify something. Nothing beats at-the-scene or newsroom reporting. It's irreplaceable, especially in breaking news such as crime. For this reason, really conservative-minded editors may be averse to non-traditional reporting by way of social networking websites, or flat out turn it down altogether. But smart editors understand that journalism has evolved to accommodate different methods of reporting, and they will embrace new avenues.

Social networking websites are the wave of the future, and incorporating them into the reporting process (even a little) benefits the field. The ability to do an article for a newspaper in Minnesota, while you're sitting in California is a testament to the information age and a progressive technological society.

I'm beginning to preach. That's not my point.

My point is that you can definitely get your foot in the door by using social networking websites to land stories as a recent journalism grad. Through them, you have the potential to create clips, get involved with a new newspaper, distance report, impress editors, get some post-college experience, and build a local source list--all while you're job hunting!

P.S.-Democratic candidate John Edwards uses social networking websites to campaign.