Tonight I received my first Tweet critique from a follower. He stated, "Too many RT's that aren't relevant to News, I'd like to keep following you but there are too many twits for me." I promptly sent a reply thanking him for letting me know this.
Luckily, he hadn't unfollowed me yet so I sent him a direct message saying, "seriously, thank you for being honest with me. I'm still learning my place as a journalist on twitter. I understand if you no longer follow." This is complete honesty. I find myself struggling at times of defining who I am on Twitter, always aware of my journalistic integrities, and trying to combine them with my goals I hope to achieve by using social media.
I received a reply to my direct message that explained his position on my tweets. I asked questions in return to get specifics on his concerns. I thanked him for chatting with me and told him I would keep his comments in mind as I continue to use Twitter.
I've set my identity on Twitter to be: a person with a job and a life following me on Twitter, but I happen to be a journalist who works at a TV station in Denver. I share tweets about myself and I tweet about news, working in news, working in news at CBS4 News. I'm curious, am I seen first as a journalist or as just another person by those following me?
This is where I find myself struggling at times. I have made friends with people on Twitter. We have conversations, some related to news, some not. When possible I try to bring news back into the conversations. I have people following me just for my news tweets.
The critique tonight said he didn't mind my non-news tweets, but that the way I answer tweets and the re-tweets of @cbs4denver and @skyjosh get hard to follow. I can understand being overwhelmed by tweets when I re-tweet either @cbs4denver or @skyjosh because then he's receiving the same tweets twice. However there are many Colorado viewers who follow me but don't follow both or either @cbs4denver or @skyjosh. When I re-tweet those posts, my goal is to get the most information out to the most people.
As for how I answer or comment to tweets, it's my opinion since I'm a journalist trying to be open, when possible, I re-tweet the posts and post my comments or answers so all can see what I'm responding to. More often than not I put my answer in the re-tweet so I don't have to send out multiple tweets.
Tonight I responded to a tweet asking if boys will ever grow out of burping and farting jokes. This is something I ask almost daily as a step-mother of two boys. (I'm starting to accept I will never understand boy humor!) This tweet received several responses. I re-tweeted these responses to show the complete conversation. It was also me relating to people as a regular person, not just a news person.
It was right after this I received the tweet critique. I really do understand. Did I cross a line? Did I go to far? These are good questions. I'm glad I was able to chat with the person who sent the critique. I thank him for being open with me.
This kind of critique is something other Tweople don't have to pay attention to if they don't want. But, as I am a journalist trying to be open in how I use social media, I open myself to these kinds of critiques and discussions.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Vanity? Branding? Or?
I'm learning. I hope to always be learning. Currently I'm learning how to incorporate social media into my job as an assignment editor. I truly believe mainstream media will evolve to incorporate and utilize social media. So I jumped right into the action.
If you've been following me on Twitter, @MistyMontano, you know how I've been using Twitter as a journalist. I function between my account and the station's, @cbs4denver, to engage in conversations about stories, to share what it's like to work on the news desk, to provide openess by tweeting during the editorial meetings. The station started tweeting the editorial meetings weeks ago and daily more tweople are joining in the conversation. Soon I will help coach social media sessions for station employees who want to learn and/or get involved. I'm sure the station will continue to evolve.
In my efforts to learn I've talked on the phone with or met with tweople in real life to discuss what I'm doing and to see how they're using social media, mainly Twitter. Rob McNealy, @RobMcNealy, told me he doesn't trust people who don't use their names or those who use nicknames. He advised me I should change my Twitter handle, which was @MsMistyJ at the time. He then told me if I blog, I should have my own domain name. We discussed quite a bit that left me thinking for days. (Thanks Rob!)
I thought about what he said about not trusting those who don't use their full names. Within hours of our meeting I changed my Twitter handle to @MistyMontano. My journalistic goal in using social media is to bring transparency, openess to the media. What Rob said made perfect sense. If I'm going to ask those whom I interact with on any social media platform to trust me, I should use my full name. Shakespeare had this figured out long ago when Juliet said,
Then I meandered through what Rob said about having my own domain where I could share my blog(s). My thoughts often run in tangents, so from thinking of our conversation I moved to bios of reporters and anchors on the station's website. I"m not a public figure like my coworkers, but I now have a voice I didn't have before. It then made sense for me to have my own domain where I could post a bio and host blogs, or anything else I want.
I created www.MistyMontano.com a few days later. Soon after I was contacted by the Mile High Social Media Club and asked if I would be a panelist in an upcoming seminar on social media in PR and the Media. I was asked for a bio. What do you know? I had my own domain sitting empty, so I posted a bio for the organization to use.
Then I looked at my blog, On the News Desk, and decided to move it to my domain. Boy was that disasterous and I'm sure I've lost most, if not all, my followers! Eventually I gave up the fight in trying to make my own blog roll in my website and just linked On the News Desk to my website. In verifying the website and setting up tracking, I also decided to change the domain name of On the News Desk to incorporate my name as well. Now I'm sure if I had any followers left, they've all left running in frustraion!
Next I looked at my blog and saw two distinct topics, adventure stories from the news desk and posts on social media/twitter. I decided to create a second blog, Where mainstream media and social media combine, where I will post my thoughts on social media in mainstream media.
My website is simple. (Mainly because I'm not a website designer! HA!) I'm viewing it as my own watering hole; a place where people who want to know more about me can find it. Why? In trying to achieve openess as a journalist, if I'm going to have this new found voice, people should be able to easily find out who is sharing news adventures with them.
In the end, I guess I'm branding myself, but as what? I can't name it. How about evolving journalist?
And, I admit there's a little vanity and excitement in this for me too.
If you've been following me on Twitter, @MistyMontano, you know how I've been using Twitter as a journalist. I function between my account and the station's, @cbs4denver, to engage in conversations about stories, to share what it's like to work on the news desk, to provide openess by tweeting during the editorial meetings. The station started tweeting the editorial meetings weeks ago and daily more tweople are joining in the conversation. Soon I will help coach social media sessions for station employees who want to learn and/or get involved. I'm sure the station will continue to evolve.
In my efforts to learn I've talked on the phone with or met with tweople in real life to discuss what I'm doing and to see how they're using social media, mainly Twitter. Rob McNealy, @RobMcNealy, told me he doesn't trust people who don't use their names or those who use nicknames. He advised me I should change my Twitter handle, which was @MsMistyJ at the time. He then told me if I blog, I should have my own domain name. We discussed quite a bit that left me thinking for days. (Thanks Rob!)
I thought about what he said about not trusting those who don't use their full names. Within hours of our meeting I changed my Twitter handle to @MistyMontano. My journalistic goal in using social media is to bring transparency, openess to the media. What Rob said made perfect sense. If I'm going to ask those whom I interact with on any social media platform to trust me, I should use my full name. Shakespeare had this figured out long ago when Juliet said,
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Then I meandered through what Rob said about having my own domain where I could share my blog(s). My thoughts often run in tangents, so from thinking of our conversation I moved to bios of reporters and anchors on the station's website. I"m not a public figure like my coworkers, but I now have a voice I didn't have before. It then made sense for me to have my own domain where I could post a bio and host blogs, or anything else I want.
I created www.MistyMontano.com a few days later. Soon after I was contacted by the Mile High Social Media Club and asked if I would be a panelist in an upcoming seminar on social media in PR and the Media. I was asked for a bio. What do you know? I had my own domain sitting empty, so I posted a bio for the organization to use.
Then I looked at my blog, On the News Desk, and decided to move it to my domain. Boy was that disasterous and I'm sure I've lost most, if not all, my followers! Eventually I gave up the fight in trying to make my own blog roll in my website and just linked On the News Desk to my website. In verifying the website and setting up tracking, I also decided to change the domain name of On the News Desk to incorporate my name as well. Now I'm sure if I had any followers left, they've all left running in frustraion!
Next I looked at my blog and saw two distinct topics, adventure stories from the news desk and posts on social media/twitter. I decided to create a second blog, Where mainstream media and social media combine, where I will post my thoughts on social media in mainstream media.
My website is simple. (Mainly because I'm not a website designer! HA!) I'm viewing it as my own watering hole; a place where people who want to know more about me can find it. Why? In trying to achieve openess as a journalist, if I'm going to have this new found voice, people should be able to easily find out who is sharing news adventures with them.
In the end, I guess I'm branding myself, but as what? I can't name it. How about evolving journalist?
And, I admit there's a little vanity and excitement in this for me too.
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