Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter

I’ve written before on how Tumblr is starting to gain a role in the online strategy of media outlets. In the last few months a number of big name publications have started blogs on the platform. There are a few good reasons why your media outlet should get a Tumblr blog.

1. Sharing sharing sharing

Unlike other blogging platforms (eg. WordPress, Blogger) sharing is built into the DNA of Tumblr. It takes one click to repost a great image, quote or video from one Tumblr blog to yours. This rewards blogs that have great and well-defined editing, aggregation and curation. If you find great content and post it, it’ll get shared. Find enough great content and you’ll make yourself a destination.

Example: The Daily What. The popular blog finds the best, funniest and wackiest stuff online — odd videos, funny headlines, gobsmacking stories. Getting something on the Daily What pretty much means you’re getting reposted, liked and commented on by dozens if not hundreds of people.

2. Showing off your editorial voice

A number of publications use Tumblr as a great platform for their editorial voice by finding and posting a mix of self-produced content and things from other publications. Others trawl the seemingly endless waters of the internet for great finds. For a new publication, or one without a big recognizable name Tumblr is another way for you to show potential readers what you’re all about.

Example: Worn Fashion Journal‘s Tumblr. An indie fashion magazine out of Toronto, the Wornettes find photos, illustrations and articles that inspire them. It gives the magazine a way to keep their magazine out there and I get the feeling that it helps the editors, contributors and interns sharpen their ideas. (Disclosure: I’ve contributed to Worn)

3. Visuals

Most CMSes and blogging platforms are designed with text in mind. It’s understandable considering that text is the dominant medium for many media outlets. Tumblr, on the other hand, is great for visuals. It actually seems to be designed with photos and graphics in mind.  There are tons of templates that are designed for photoblogging and it’s easy to design (or find) a template that’s visually rich and striking.

Example: The National Post Tumblr. We started the blog as a way to get the Post’s beautiful graphics, illustrations and photography on to a space where it could really take centre stage. Tumblr was the perfect fit. Want another great example? The New York Times’ T magazine Tumblr has pictures so big you probably want a 24′ monitor to really make it work.

Other notable Tumblr blogs:

The Washington Post‘s Innovations Tumblr cherry-picks the best digital journalism out there and gives us an inside glimpse at some of the great things their online team is doing.

A visually-heavy blog from a radio network? NPR’s Tumblr picks the best stories and lots and lots of images. A smart way of inserting yourself into the Tumblr community and conversation.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t include Newsweek‘s Tumblr, the granddaddy of media Tumblrs. Reading Newsweek’s Tumblr feels like a conversation with the smart and cosmopolitan writers and editors who work there.

If you’ve been reading this blog you’ll know that twitter is a huge part of my personal and professional life. On Friday, I reached a pretty big personal milestone and sent out my 10,000 tweet. Yes, it means I tweet a lot. Some of it is inane, but I try my best to keep it entertaining, informative and relevant.

I’ve had the chance to talk to journalism students about using social media to build their practice and I can’t stress how useful twitter is. So in honour of 10,000 tweets I want to reiterate the three things I’ve learned about twitter: (more…)

If you’re interested in the future of print journalism then James Fallows’ lengthy Atlantic feature about how Google is helping save newspapers is a must-read.

A few things I learned from the piece:

1. Stop blaming Google for your woes newspapers

Blaming big bad Google for “stealing” all that content is a popular past-time for certain news executives. It’s just plain wrong. Google News lifts abstracts from pieces and doesn’t slice, dice and repackage news like other outlets. Also, you can easily stop Google from indexing your sites. Why wouldn’t you do this? The traffic that Google brings to your site is simply too valuable. (more…)

As promised in my post about being an awesome intern, I’m giving some tips to people who are responsible for interns.

In media and publishing interns are integral and a lot of excellent places wouldn’t function without their interns. But just as it’s important for an intern to be professional and keen to work, it’s equally as important for editors and managers to treat their interns respectfully and responsibly. A few quick tips:

1) Have clear goals and expectations

What time do you want your intern to show up? What time can they leave? What kind of work do you want them to do? These are simple questions, but sometimes these aren’t communicated well to the intern. When expectations are set out clearly then both intern and editor are on the same page.

2) Always have work ready

Interns are there to learn and an unproductive intern is a waste of time and effort for the both of you. Ask yourself, is there research that needs to be done? Writing that can be started? Special projects, etc.

3) Learn how to delegate

If you’re a perfectionist or a control freak, this is going to be tough. But it’s necessary. And giving your intern a bit of trust and responsibility can really go a long way and stop you from going crazy.

4) Train them properly

Spend a bit of time at the start of the internship showing the intern how things work. This investment of time at the start will recoup itself in no time.

5) Make them feel like a part of the staff

Grab coffee with them, let them join in during meetings, introduce them to your co-workers. Your workplace can be intimidating, particularly if it’s a large office, dispelling some of their anxiety is just a nice thing to do.

My co-worker Adam McDowell has decided to try out the caveman diet and blog about it.

He will not be chasing down woolly mammoths and grappling with sabretooth tigers. They’re not very common in downtown Toronto. I blame climate change.

From his caveman blog:

Starting Wednesday I’m undertaking a one-month experiment in adding aspects of a paleolithic man’s daily round into my 21st-century urban existence. I want to see how far I can travel in the footsteps of our Stone Age hunter-gatherer ancestors — at least in terms of the way I eat and keep fit — while making a living as a writer for theNational Post, a daily Canadian newspaper based in Toronto.

Photo from Adam’s caveman blog.

In the last few months I came to the realization that I’ve gone from being a veteran intern to the guy who’s actually in charge of working with them. I’ve also talked to a number of my friends in media and publishing who are in similar situations.

So while these things are still fresh in my mind, I’m going to write a few quick hints and tips for those who are interning. These aren’t hard rules, internships can vary greatly from place to place, but follow most of these and you can make the most of even a bad internship.

1) Don’t say no to work

Yes, I know it’s an unpaid internship. Yes, I know you came to learn about how a newspaper, magazine or publishing house works and it looks oh, so glamourous on TV and in the movies, but most of the time it isn’t.

There’s stuff that needs to get done, listings need to be typed up and checked, packages need to be mailed out, mailing lists needs to be updated. Suck it up and do it. And when you’re done ask for more. Don’t huff, don’t roll your eyes and complain. Almost every editor and writer would’ve had to do this at some time and they’ll tell you that they remember the interns who don’t want to work or think it’s beneath them.

2) Do your work fast, do it well

Internships are tryouts. Do your best work at everything, even if it’s something as tiny as checking facts or writing a 200-word sidebar, or mailing out packages. We notice stand-out work. Do it fast. There’s always more work around the corner. Do both of these things and we’ll love you forever.

3) Think, think, think

Dissect the publication you’re working at. Look at what they do and if you think you’ve got a better idea, don’t be afraid to mention it. Many times, publications get in a rut because of familiarity AND because tired editors just don’t have time to do things a different way. Showing that you’re thinking critically about a publication gets noticed.

4) Look at the competition

Read other papers, other magazines and blogs. See what great ideas other places have? Is there any way you can ‘steal’ some of these ideas? Showing initiative and interest is appreciated. There’s tons to read and check out and having a keen pair of eyes scouring for good stuff is always appreciated in any newsroom.

5) Don’t be afraid to ask questions

Don’t know how to do something? Ask for help. Editors often forget that interns don’t actually know how to work on the obscure content management system in the newsroom or the arcana that is the office media list. Forgive our addled brains.

Sometimes we’re also really shitty at giving directions, so it never hurts to ask for direction.

In a few days, for the sake of fairness, I’ll post rules for editors who are managing interns

This was a presentation I gave to George Hoff’s multi-platform journalism class at Centennial College. For all of you who are already blogging, tweeting and Facebooking (or Linked-inning) this is old-hat. But for the journalism newbie, students, etc. this might be useful.

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter: Using social media as a journalist

Most journalists should be active in one or more social media tools. Not only because of the benefits but at least to understand how these tools work and how they can be used in journalism.

Personally I use these social media tools to generate story ideas, improve my profile, gain exposure, network and gather news.

1. Blogs

Probably the most time-consuming but the one that has the most potential reward. I’ve listed some great examples of journalists who use blogs to great effect.

Mathew Ingram

Former communities editor Globe & Mail, now at tech blog GigaOm. Mathew was a great advocate for social media/web 2.0 at Globe. He’s now at the frontline of tech reporting with GigaOm.

David Akin

Canwest Parliamentary correspondent, uses social media to enhance day-to-day work. Note how David has used Twitter, Facebook, etc. on his blog to give you a sense of how active he is on social media.

Corey Mintz

Corey’s blog is very off-the-cuff but gives his readers great personal insights into his process, outtakes from his column. It shows off his personality, and creates a great relationship with his readers.

What do these blogs all have in common? They extend a personal brand, they give you more insight into the person behind the work, it’s a platform for writing, ideas, stories that might not fit in a traditional media format (newspapers, magazines, wire stories, etc.

Blogs and traditional media
Blogs do things well that traditional media don’t: opinion, curation, aggregation. It’s why we at the Post really like them. We probably run 10+ blogs. Here are a few examples from the Post.

Full Comment

A blog that’s home for our opinions/columnists/editorials. Started because the Post saw a gap in right-wing commentary/blogging in Canada. As a result Full Comment has become very popular among this comunity. The blog gets lots of comments, thousands of page views a day. More importantly, we’ve got tons of buy in from our more senior writers AND younger writers.

Posted

Our news blog lets us experiment and do things and chase stories that we wouldn’t traditionally be able to do. Our blog is a lot less rigid than our normal story pages, so we can do things like embed videos and maps, add more links, images, etc. Also, it’s a good repository for off-kilter stories non-traditional news, etc.

Many other outlets do something similar. A few good examples, the NY Times’ City Room blog, NPR’s the Two Way.
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buy Enough

After much nailbiting and prodding, we finally launched the new books blog at the Post. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I’m one of the editors of the Afterword (I’m in charge of the blog’s twitter feed, follow us @npbooks).

American Beauty divx Brad and Mark felt that the books coverage in the Post was actually getting lost in the pop culture heavy Ampersand blog. It’s tough to read about the new Murakami book and then get bombarded by a story about Britney’s latest meltdown.

• Shania Up! Live in Chicago movie

I’m looking forward to doing a lot of coverage on e-books (especially with the upcoming Bookcamp), cover design and pretty much anything else I’ve wanted to cover in the literary world.

My boss at the National Post download Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.

Severance full movie

• Excess Baggage video buy The Tragedy of Macbeth

Orgies and the Meaning of Life divx

, Kenny Yum, is heading to Washington D.C. for the inaugural. He’s a frequent visitor to the city and will try to shed his insight on next week’s festivities.

The Mikado film

You can follow him on our blog.

He will undoubtedly be tweeting the inaugural. I look forward to seeing the tweets get progressively more incoherent as the evening wears on.

The Bellboy buy

Vote.

Here’s how

Fame

Hold That Ghost psp

Tony Arzenta divx

(not who to vote for but how to get that little piece of paper into the box)

The Thirty Nine Steps ipod

The Babysitters film

Universal Soldier ipod

The Mutant Chronicles movie

• It Could Happen to You download

Also. if you want to help a buddy out you can check out my handiwork (and tell your friends) on the National Post website later tonight.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves dvdrip