Journalists Use Facebook to Find Sources and Promote Stories

When Lisa Eckelbecker first signed up for Facebook she wasn't sure what to make of it. But as a reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette newspaper, she soon started getting friend requests from readers and people she had interviewed for stories.

"I realized that I was facing a dilemma," she says. "I could use Facebook to communicate with and listen to my immediate family and close friends, or I could use it as a business tool to share my work, build contacts and listen to lots of different people."

After attending a seminar at Columbia University on how to use social networking tools, Eckelbecker chose the latter option.

"I have started posting my stories to my news feed, and it's been gratifying to see people occasionally comment on them," she says. "Recently, I asked my Massachusetts friends if they could help me find sources for a story on supermarket retailing. I struck out with that request, but I like the idea of using Facebook to find sources and will try that again."

Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites have gotten a reputation as places where users routinely post the most mundane details of their daily lives to their closest friends. "Carried out the garbage and now I'm heating up the leftovers" might be typical.

But Eckelbecker is one of a growing number of professional, citizen and student journalists who are using Facebook and similar sites to help them find sources for stories, then spread the word to readers once those stories are published online.

Such sites are part of an expanding array of tools - including websites, blogs and Twitter - that reporters are using to promote themselves and their work on the web at a time when traditional print journalism seems fated to go the way of eight-track tapes.

A Helpful Tool for a Food Writer and a Freelancer

Dara Bunjon writes about Baltimore restaurants for Examiner.com. And when she’s not hard at work on her blogposts, she’s posting links to them on her Facebook account.

“I regularly use Facebook to promote my column, which is set up with 210 followers,” Bunjon says. “If a story has relevancy to a Facebook group I will post links there. All this has driven my hits upward and grown the number of people who are following what I write.”

Judith Spitzer, a former newspaper reporter who’s currently freelancing, uses Facebook as a networking tool to find sources for stories.

“I use Facebook and LinkedIn to network with friends and friends of friends when I'm looking for a source, which is huge because there's already a trust factor when they know someone,” Spitzer says.

Mandy Jenkins, social media editor for The Cincinnati Enquirer and its website, Cincinnati.Com, says Facebook is “extremely valuable to connect with professional sources and other journalists as friends. If you monitor the newsfeeds of those you cover, you can find out so much about what's going on with them. See what pages and groups they join, who they interact with and what they say.”

Jenkins suggests that reporters join the Facebook groups and fan pages of organizations that they cover. “Some groups send out a lot of insider info on these group lists without even noticing who is on them,” she says. “Not only that, but with Facebook's openness, you can see who else is in the group and contact them for a quote when you need it.”

And for interactive stories where a reporter might need to gather readers' videos or photos, “Facebook's page tools have a lot to offer in terms of social media presentation and crowdsourcing,” she adds.

As an example, Jenkins cites the Recession Survivors Project on Facebook. The site features videos posted both by the students who run the site, and by its “fans” as well.

Using Facebook to “share story links, blog entries and collected articles from around the net in one's news feed is the best way to show off expertise and make any journalist a ‘go-to’ for information on their beat,” Jenkins adds. “The Facebook newsfeed is so versatile and allows so much importing, it takes practically no effort to share information with all of your friends very easily.”

How to Get Business Through Facebook

Create a Professional Facebook Profile

Facebook is better known for finding old friends, playing games and connecting with people you know. There's another angle to Facebook though. Facebook can also be used to promote yourself. Whether you have a small business that you want to promote, are a band of some sort, are an artist, are a public figure, or an organization, you can use Facebook to promote yourself.

The cost to create a Facebook profile for your hobby or organization is free. Facebook also offers the option to create an ad, for a small fee, that will be displayed on Facebook. This will help promote you even more.

You have to have a personal Facebook profile first. Facebook is a place for people, so if you want to promote your hobby or organization, your professional Facebook profile will have to be connected to your personal Facebook profile.

This profile is different than creating a Facebook group. A Facebook group does not have a news feed on the page that you can add messages and comments to. It does however allow you to send a message to everyone in your group at once. You have to decide which is better for you.

How to Create My Profile

Creating your professional Facebook profile is easy, just log into Facebook and go to Facebook's create a page tool. Then decide which category your hobby or organization fits into and follow the directions to create your Facebook profile.

Once you have the Facebook profile for your hobby or organization all set up, you'll need to spend a little time adding content to it. Don't worry, this is easy. Add something to the Info tab of your Facebook profile. This will tell people what your hobby or organization is about and what you can do for them.

Advertise Your New Profile

Make sure you send the link to all your friends, fans and clients so they can all come to your Facebook profile and sign up. Then whenever you add a message to your Facebook profile page, they will all see your message from their Facebook page.

If you have a website for your hobby or organization, make sure to add links to your hobby or organization website to the messages that you add on your profile. This way people will come to your organization's website to learn more about it.

Facebook also offers paid advertising for your professional profile. This will place ads around Facebook to get your profile more exposure.

Finished

How to Market Your Business on Facebook

We all used to think Facebook was for kids; I'm with you I used to think the same thing as well, but it's time to change our thinking. There are many companies using Facebook to market and seeing success in doing so.

Consider the following statistics provided by O’Reilly Media. Between September 2008 and February 2009...

• The number of Facebook users between the ages of 35 and 44 increased by 51%

• Facebook users among the ages 45-54 grew by 47%

• Facebook users ages 26-34 increased by 26%

• More than half of the 140 million Facebook users are out of college

As you can see Facebook is no longer for just college students. Why should you use Facebook as a marketing tool? The answer is easy; you can use Facebook to gain new clients, stay in touch with current clients and promote new products and sales offers. You can also use it to create buzz and PR that is specific about your business.

How do you do this? Facebook offers you many tools, to be successful in marketing your business you must have an understanding of these tools. In this article we will look at two in particular:

• Facebook Pages

• Facebook Groups

Facebook Pages

Facebook Offers you Facebook Pages. What does that mean? You can use Facebook Pages to create and give your business their own profile on Facebook; the best thing is right now they are free. These pages give your business an identity on Facebook which strengthens your brand. Current customers or even potential customers can become fans of your page and by doing so this allows them to follow you and receive any updates that you post to your page.

The great thing about Facebook Pages is that every time someone becomes a fan of your page all of their friends see that they have become a "fan." This often attracts other followers as well as creates a buzz regarding your business and of course your Facebook Page.

You can use your Facebook Page to not only share your company information, but you can also use it to post photos, videos, applications and messages. Any activity that you perform on your Facebook Page is then broadcast into the mini-feeds of your followers.

When creating your Facebook Page, there are things to keep in mind. You will be given a choice of three options when you start out. You will be asked whether your page is about:

• A Local Business

• A Brand or a Product

• An Artist, Band or a Public Figure

Which are you? Good question. This depends on what you want to promote. Do you want to promote your business locally, do you want to promote your brand or a product or are you working to promote an artist, band or public figure?

Each of these categories will provide you with an opportunity to complete your "basic information", "detailed information" or your "contact information." Each option will provide you with a page that enables you to provide different ways of showing your information. It's important to realize that you cannot edit your page type once you select it, and also remember that the page type that you select will categorize your page with other like pages in that category; this is why you want to make sure you select the correct category to be displayed in.

Your Facebook Page, when done correctly can be used to bring in new customers as well as to help you maintain current customer relationships.

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups, carry a similarity to Facebook Pages, the difference is they are built around a group of people rather than your business or your brand. You must be a member of Facebook to create a Facebook Group. In order to create a group just login to Facebook and then click on the Groups link in the main menu on the left hand side of the page.

You can use Facebook Groups to create awareness, but they do not have the feature that allows users to become fans, they only become members. The downfall of this is it will not share as much information with friends of "group" members as they interact with the group.

Which One is Right for You?

The question I hear most when it comes to marketing on Facebook is "Laura, do I need a page or a group?" The answer depends on the goal you want to achieve with marketing on Facebook. The truth is you will gain more exposure from a Facebook Page, because it can be seen by unregistered users, but a group page can only be seen by registered Facebook users.

Now, that feature alone should make it easy to decide, right? Wrong. You must also consider that when you send a message to Facebook Page members, they will only receive an update notification, but if you are sending a message to your Facebook Group they will receive the message via their Facebook inbox. If you goal is to be able to communicate in a personal way, the Facebook Group option may be a better fit for you.

Should Your Business Be on Facebook?

Many businesses using social media are discovering the charms and benefits of Facebook fan pages. It's a nifty little value-added service that allows businesses and organizations to build an interactive page inside the Facebook ecosystem to engage existing or potential customers. It's an intriguing idea, but does your company really need one?

Fan pages are a great way to reach consumers without resorting to direct email (spam) or hit-or-miss mass snail mail (spam in paper form). Since users make the decision to connect with your company, marketing messages will be anticipated not disregarded. People who add themselves to your fan page typically expect to see at least a little advertising come their way.

Fan pages are also a terrific way to reach customers who spend more time online than they do watching television or reading magazines and newspapers. It's cheap, too. Facebook doesn't charge users to create a fan page so the option is available to businesses for the low, low cost of free, making it an attractive option for businesses with tiny budgets.

Of course, fan pages have their drawbacks, too. Since they're located inside Facebook's walled garden, fan pages won't turn up in search engine results so only registered members will even know they exist. Furthermore, this type of marketing has a limited appeal to an even more limited demographic -- that is, people who spend time online and who are also willing to receive marketing messages.

Unfortunately, it's also easy to get lost among the multitude of other pages populating Facebook. Even if you do manage to stand out and accumulate a large fanbase, there's no guarantee they're remember to visit your page in between Mafia Wars and Bejeweled Blitzes.

If you do decide to create a fan page, Social media marketer Samir Balwani notes you can't just slap a page together and expect hoards of visitors overnight. He says there are several elements a page needs, like creating contests or giveaways, in order to gather a large following.

Balwani makes one point in particular that's often overlooked when companies build a page -- make it an information resource, not just an overblown advertisement. It's not enough to simply bark marketing slogans at visitors, be sure to offer plenty of information and insight about your industry. If you sell flux capacitors, make your page a repository of definitive information about them.

Not everyone is convinced that Facebook fan pages are the path to marketing nirvana, however. ZDNet blogger says they make businesses look unprofessional and diminish brand value. Between the visual clutter and lack of variety among pages, she says they just aren't worth the pixels they're displayed on, and could even work against you.

While you're weighing the options of whether or not to try this marketing tactic, remember that you'll need manpower to manage it. Like Twitter accounts, Facebook fan pages are fairly high-maintenance and need to be regularly updated and monitored. A page that looks abandoned is worse than no page at all.

Whether fan pages are worth your company's time is a highly subjective matter. If you're really on the fence, take a look at your competitors. Do they have one? Is it heavily trafficked? Can you do better? If the answers are yes, then give it a whirl.

5 Things You Shouldn't Share Online

When you're hanging out with your friends on social networking sites, it's easy to forget that what you say and share might not just stay between friends. Here are 5 things you should never post and what you can do instead without missing out on the fun.

1. Party Pics

Everyone claims to know this rule, but pics of people drinking and smoking at parties continue to get uploaded to Facebook and MySpace every day.
Why it's dumb: Since anyone can repost photos online as much as they want, even pics that are meant to be private have a way of coming back to haunt you. Employers and college recruiters often check social network profiles before they make decisions, so one incriminating pic can ruin your life. (Remember what happened to Michael Phelps?)
What to do about it: Well, for starters, don't do anything incriminating at a party. Especially when there's a camera around (and there's always a camera around). If you're not sure how to say no to illegal stuff and still have fun, here are some tips.

2. Flirty Pics

This includes everything from those half-naked "sexting" pics to anything R-rated that you wouldn't want your parents to see.
Why it's dumb: Even more than party pics, flirty pics tend to change hands and get reposted very quickly. You might think your pic is for your sweetie's eyes only, but once you send it, you lose all control over where it ends up. Jealous exes sometimes share, and proud boyfriends and girlfriends have been known to show off.
What to do about it: It's okay to be sexy. Just don't be sexy in front of a camera.

3. Your Phone Number or Address

Some social networks let you post contact info on your profiles, and some let you send public party invites where anyone can find your address.
Why it's dumb: Broadcasting personal info on a social site might be the easiest way to share with all your friends, but it's also the easiest way to share with creeps, weirdos and other strangers you don't want knocking on your door.
What to do about it: Only share that info in private messages and emails. It might take longer, but it's a lot easier than changing your number or screen name to keep a creeper from contacting you again. And instead of creating a party invite page, just send out emails through a site like Evite.

4. Complaints About Teachers and Bosses

Social networks seem like great places to gripe about school and work, right?
Why it's dumb: Remember: whatever you write can always get back to the person you're writing about. If what you say is untrue, or even just unflattering, it could get you suspended or fired - like the one 16-year old girl who got fired after she told her Facebook friends that she thought her job was boring.
What to do about it: Save your kvetching for when you're with your friends in person. It's more fun that way anyway.

5. Your Drama

Social networks are hotbeds for friend fights, breakup fits and nasty rumors. With just a click of your mouse, it's super-easy to share the dark side of your social life.
Why it's dumb: Some conversations need to be kept private. Getting personal in public damages your rep, hurts friendships and creates even more drama.
What to do about it: Don't use social networks as a place to have it all out with your friends and enemies. Instead, use socnets to share positive stuff about yourself and the cool things going on in your life, and keep the private stuff private.

Does Your Facebook Profile Reveal Too Much?

Social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook are very popular among teens and that popularity comes with risks. The Internet has a dark history of predators connecting with vulnerable young people but social networking sites have added a whole new dimension to this sinister side of the web.

The Dark Side of Social Networking Sites

In the past predators had to make direct contact with potential victims in chat rooms or forums before being able to lure them in to real world danger. Social networking sites have changed that. Now predators can surf these sites, hand pick targets that appeal to them, and stalk the person they choose without any direct contact at all.

Predators don’t even need to be on the target’s friends list to get things going. Since the purpose of these sites is to connect with other people on a purely social level most users have a naiveté about the way they set up their profiles.

Online Predators and Facebook

How do Internet predators take a profile page on a social networking site and turn it in to a map of your life? It’s really not that difficult. Let’s look at Facebook as an example.

On Facebook people openly list information like their gender, birth date, hometown, school, political views and religious affiliations. They enhance their profiles with personal statements, lists of hobbies and social groups, lists of favorite things and employment histories. Some users include even more personal embellishments like email addresses, phone numbers and relationship status.

Facebook users dress up their profiles with applications that do everything from showing their current mood to describing their romantic personality. Facebook gives away lot of information about users. There are event announcements, party attendance lists, friend lists, group lists, fan pages and The Wall where friends post messages. All of these things make it very easy for a predator to stalk you in real time.

Protecting Yourself From Facebook Predators

While nothing is fail safe here are some tips that will keep you safer:

Make your profile private so that only friends can see it. People from your past that may be looking for you will still find your name in a search but they won’t see your profile until you add them as a friend. Predators will always choose a readily available target over one that takes work to even find.

Set up a limited profile using the privacy settings on Facebook. Use it for people from your past or people you don’t know well.

Don’t list your birth date, or at the very least omit the year. Don’t list your school name or the name of where you work. Consider not listing your hometown, political views or religious affiliations. Keep as much personal information as possible off of your profile page.

Don’t put your phone number on your profile. People you really know will have other ways to get it.

Keep your personal statement limited. When you make a detailed personal statement you give a predator all the information that they need to create a fantasy relationship with you. The more a predator knows about you the easier it is to seek out ways to bond or connect with you in real life.

Never accept an invitation to a party or event on Facebook. Decline all online invitations and if you plan to attend tell the host in person.

Don’t tag your pictures. Strangers won’t know your friends’ names even if they can see their faces. Never label where a picture was taken, like a club or other public place, instead label pictures with simple non-identifying titles like, “Summer Party ‘07”or “Randoms.”

Restrict your picture settings so that only friends can see pictures you post or pictures that you are tagged in. You do this in the privacy settings on Facebook.

Be selective in the applications that you add. Stay away from overly personal applications or applications that give away information you have purposely left out of your profile.

Social networking sites can be fun. They are great ways to stay connected to people and to get in touch with old friends. You do not have to stay away from sites like Facebook in order to be safe online. You just need to be aware and make smart decisions about the things you put on your profile page.

Why Facebook? Why should you start Facebooking?

Facebook and other social networking websites can be very confusing for those who have never used it. So if you are having friends and family request that you get on Facebook, but aren't sure why you should use Facebook, continue reading.

Why Facebook?

Facebook can be thought of as your home on the Internet. It's a place people can go to leave you a message, browse through your photo collections, or even chat with you while you are online. It can be a great way to keep in contact with friends and family, and even find long lost friends that you haven't spoken to in years.

The Facebook "wall" is where it all happens. This is where you write comments on what you are up to or share photos and articles with your friends. You'll also see what your friends and family are posting on their wall, and anyone on your friends list can come by and write a comment on your wall. So not only is the Facebook wall a great place to let everyone know you are back from vacation and post trip photos, it is also a place where conversations are started.

Facebook is your online photo album

In addition to keeping up with friends and family, Facebook is a great place to upload all of those family photos. Ordinarily, you'd have to whip out the photo album when people are over at the house, but uploading them to Facebook means the parents can look at their grandchildren anytime they want.

Facebook for fun, games and more

There is also a lot more to Facebooking than just post on your friend's wall. You can play online games like Mafia Wars whereby you will enlist the aid of your friends to knock off a bank or take down a gang leader. You can also use Facebook applications to map out who you are related to on Facebook and even chat with any friends and family that are online.

Facebook for business

You can also use Facebook to connect with co-workers and old co-workers to keep the workplace networking going. It's a fact that one of the best ways to find a new job is to be recommended by a friend, so keeping up with business contacts can be very important.

Facebook for finding old friends

Ever wonder whatever happened to your prom date? Or your best friend from middle school? With more and more people joining Facebook, it is becoming a great place to look up old friends and getting back in touch.

Remember to start slow

Now that you know what all you can do with Facebook, the trick is to not become overwhelmed by trying to do everything at once. Start slow by sending friend requests to your friends and family and reading what's up on their wall. Once you get accustomed to the interface, you can expand your use to uploading photo albums, and from there, begin experimenting with some of the neat Facebook applications.

Facebook Profile: What is Facebook?

The idea of Facebook can be quite confusing to those new to social networking. So what is Facebook? It is a place to communicate with friends and family, to share photographs or funny links you find on the Web, to play social games like Farmville or Mafia Wars, search for long-lost friends or even chat interactively with your buddies.

Facebook sprung from its roots as a school-based social network to became the most popular social network in the world. A few keys to Facebook's success is its ability to appeal to both people and businesses, the success of Facebook's developers network which has turned Facebook into a thriving platform, and Facebook Connect's ability to reach out to the rest of the web and provide a single login that works across multiple sites.

Facebook Profile: Key Features

• Facebook allows you to maintain a friends list and choose privacy settings to tailor who can see what on your profile

• Facebook allows you to upload photos and maintain photo albums that can be shared with your friends

• Facebook supports interactive online chat and the ability to comment on your friends "walls" in order to keep in touch or just say 'hi'.

• Facebook supports groups and fan pages, allowing businesses to effectively use Facebook as a vehicle for social media marketing

• Facebook's developer network delivers advanced functionality in the form of social apps like Flixster and Vampire Wars

• Facebook Connect allows websites to interact with Facebook and allows Facebook to be used as a universal login authentication service.

Facebook Profile: History

Facebook is a social network founded in February of 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. Originally a social network for students of Harvard University, it became a hit on campus and expanded to other colleges. In 2005, Facebook opened itself to high schools, and in 2006, it was open to everyone. Since then, it has experienced tremendous growth, bypassing MySpace in terms of global popularity.

In 2007, Facebook launched the Facebook Platform, which allowed developers to create applications on the network. Rather than simply being badges or widgets to adorn on a Facebook page, these applications allowed friends to interact by giving gifts or playing games, such as chess. In 2008, Facebook launched Facebook Connect, which competed with OpenSocial and Google Friend Connect as a universal login authentication service.