Dig into how digital strategies can build stronger focused coverage. From databases to blogs to tweeting, learn what readers are looking for and how reporters can meet those needs in the 24/7 news cycle.
Laura’s Tumblr: One Reporter’s Notebook http://lauraamico.tumblr.com/
Link to Yellowstone Gate: http://www.yellowstonegate.com/
“That’s why I love the Internet you can start something and let it really take on a life of its own.” -@lauranorton #ONA12 #digitalbeats https://twitter.com/marissaaevans/status/249589570969149442
Check out http://www.homicidewatch.org for a cool way if covering crime online. #digitalbeats #ONA12 https://twitter.com/AllisonHanes/status/249589547556540416
Narrow focus is key @eyeseast likes that @homicidewatch only deals with a certain kind of crime in a very defined area. #digitalbeats #ONA12 https://twitter.com/JourStudent/status/249589384343588864
If you are not following @homicidewatch @lauranorton @eyeseast, you’re missing out. Best. Ever. #digitalbeats https://twitter.com/jmsummers/status/249589101823676416
Cool example of a digital beat: http://planphilly.com/ which looks at land use in Philly #digitalbeats #ONA12 https://twitter.com/JourStudent/status/249588741516177408
#digitalbeats allow community to enter into the stories with us, inform us, aid the narrative. #ONA12 https://twitter.com/sngager/status/249588644648714240
Cultivate early interest in news consumption and production, gather expertise, sources: #digitalbeats advice to students. #ona12 https://twitter.com/ShaunaRempel/status/249588467812687873
Kinda feel like this is beat reporting 101 rather than how to augment your beat with digital tricks/tools. #digitalbeats #ONA12 https://twitter.com/AllisonHanes/status/249588252720373762
“I’m looking for students that have tired approaching beat or subject matter on their own.” -@lauranorton #ONA12 #digitalbeats https://twitter.com/marissaaevans/status/249587696421462019
Audit your audience. Look at who’s engaging, interested in what you’re doing. It may change per story. -@jmsummers #digitalbeats #ona12 https://twitter.com/kjmcginty/status/249587380191899648
#digitalbeats q about how to cover a large beat: maybe look at the analytics carefully to see what content is most useful to readership https://twitter.com/bponsot/status/249587058862063616
Interesting website brought up in #digitalbeats http://www.patchworknation.org/ #ONA12 https://twitter.com/JourStudent/status/249587025236344832
ASK: How will people use this? If they don’t use it, scrap it. Make everything fit the mission of the beat @LauraNorton #ONA12 #digitalbeats https://twitter.com/donica/status/249586710348980224
“Reach your audience where they’re at rather than reinvent the wheel.”–@jmsummers #digitalbeats https://twitter.com/krystina0610/status/249586361923936258
.@lauranorton We collect own data at @homicidewatch. Talk to ppl at scene, add to database. Quicker than any feed. #ojr #digitalbeat https://twitter.com/frankreporting/status/249585178694008832
interesting takes on beat reporters’ personality becoming the beat. #ona12 #digitalbeats It’s a balancing act for sure. Double-edge sword. https://twitter.com/cyhung/status/249585024058404865
It depends on the #digitalbeat for how much voice of the reporter come through, says @eyeseast. Herocomplex depends on Nate silver #ONA12 https://twitter.com/ATerryGlobal/status/249584541524717568
“Be real familiar with your subject matter and be a resource.” A great basic mantra digital beat writers. #digitalbeat #ona12 https://twitter.com/estromgren/status/249584301832814592
.@LauraNorton didn’t want @homicidewatch to be about her, so she kept photo off the site. #digitalbeats #ONA12 https://twitter.com/stevebuttry/status/249584043052642305
Laura Amico: “The person becomes the beat.” #ONA12 #digitalbeat https://twitter.com/funnybunnylin/status/249583814756675584
Great advice! RT: @marissaaevans Write for your audience not for your competition, @jmsummers says in regards to #digitalbeats. #ONA12 https://twitter.com/kgarriss11/status/249583668371259394
.@jmsummers’ “beat” is Paul Ryan. Goal is get real comfortable, familiar with subject. #ojr #digitalbeat https://twitter.com/frankreporting/status/249583411625340928
In the Internet age, journalists often asked: “Do we have that (detail/quote), too?” @JMSummers turns her phone off. #digitalbeats #ona12 https://twitter.com/kjmcginty/status/249582721444229120
Examples of a good digital beat: Climate Watch from @KQED http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/ #digitalbeats #ONA12 https://twitter.com/JourStudent/status/249582345575882753
DIgital beats are a cumulative, highly structured set of timeless and timely resources written FOR a constituency #digitalbeats #ONA12 https://twitter.com/donica/status/249582133155360768
Digital reporting allows journalists to build specific tools for better reporting #digitalbeats https://twitter.com/onthemedia/status/249581318709596160
.@eyeseast: Internet is stateless, timeless. @nytimes 538 blog constantly showing “what is the state of the world.” #ojr #digitalbeat https://twitter.com/frankreporting/status/249581200874819584
A lot of reporters are doing beat reporting on their own using social media to interact with the community. @lauranorton #digitalbeats https://twitter.com/sdavy/status/249579998925701120
Highly structured, audience centric, mission driven, narrow in focus but cross disciplinary, that’s #digitalbeats, says @lauranorton. #ONA12 https://twitter.com/marissaaevans/status/249579869539799040
Digital beats: Taking knowledge in reporter’s head and putting it in front of the audience, says Laura Amico.
A lot of beat knowledge doesn’t reach the public, a shame in the digital age, @Lauranorton says. #digitalbeats #ona12 https://twitter.com/sngager/status/249579266944163841
.@lauranorton at #digitalbeats says (paraphrasing) tech is great, but story is still what matters most. Couldn’t agree more #ona12 https://twitter.com/cs_palmer/status/249579210891472896
#digitalbeat ‘the foundation for (digital) beats is still the narrative,’ says Laura Amico of http://homicidewatch.org https://twitter.com/writergirl/status/249578670618976256
Covering the #digitalbeats panel at #ona12 for http://gannettona2012.tumblr.com Panelists: @homicidewatch @jmsummers @eyeseast https://twitter.com/davidplazas/status/249578212630347777
Woo @schoolbook RT @LauraNorton What are your favorite #digitalbeats? A few of mine: @politifact, @schoolbook, @fivethirtyeight…. #ona12 https://twitter.com/cs_palmer/status/249577775181230080
Hi everyone! So happy to see an energetic, excited crowd for #digitalbeats! #ona12 https://twitter.com/LauraNorton/status/249576969614794752
Ready to discuss beat reporting in the digital age? Use hashtags #digitalbeat and #ona12.
Follow the conversation further at #digitalbeats and share your projects.