Phones have brought a new type of digital journalism into the world, with social media meaning news travels faster and to even wider audiences.
Platforms like Instagram, X and TikTok are great resources to use if you are looking for your next story – as long as you know how to use them properly.
If you have right skills, social media can lead you to verified sources and exciting new journalistic opportunities.
Read on to find out how to use your phone like a journalist.
Verify what you use
‘Fake news’ – we have all heard it, but can we spot it? As great as it is to find new stories online, it is important to verify your sources and information as you can get into a lot of trouble if stories are inaccurate.
If you see something on TikTok and want to use it in an article, start by searching the exact quote elsewhere. Look quotes up on search engines like Google and website archives. It may direct you to other social media profiles that can lead you to more information. This way you know your article won’t be discredited for misinformation.
Using advanced search
You can use X’s advanced search option to refine what is shown to you. For example, if you want to look for posts and perspectives on a story happening on the other side of the country or world, you can click the three dots next to the ordinary search bar and filter out what you do want to see. Why is this helpful? If a fire happened in New York City at around 3:30pm, people in the area are likely to post on X about the smoke in the air or upload photos. You can use the advanced search feature to narrow your search to posts in New York City from 3:30pm to 4pm. If you find any interesting information, you can reach out to people
Reverse image and video search
There are many search engines that can help find where a picture or video originates – Yandex, Google Lens, Bing, TinEye, Baidu. This will help you to find out if social media accounts are originally posting or reposting content. When you are looking for sources online, you must find the original poster to credit them.
When you reverse image search, make sure you have as much of the photo as possible – the more cropped it is, the less the software has to work with. This is also the case for the quality – if it is low resolution, it is more difficult to trace the original source. The image might be flipped, so flip it again yourself and give it another go through the search.
For videos, you can use InVID-WeVerify, which is a verification toolbox that lets you run reverse video searches. Go to the Keyframes tool and enter the video URL. This will take the frames of the entire video and search for the original post. This will tell you who posted this original video and when.
Interact with online publications
Instagram is a great way to find publications that are looking for young freelance writers. Following publications online keeps you updated with when they are looking for pitches. Have a read of our favourite publications that take pitches from freelance writers.
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Follow news outlets on social media
Following news publications online is a great way to stay informed throughout the day. For example, having the BBC or Sky News on your timeline means you will get notified of any breaking news stories in real time.
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Between Vogue, Rolling Stone and Sky Sports, there is no shortage of interesting publications.
Don’t just follow publications that you would typically read or want to write for.
A good journalist will read all types of journalism to stay current and unbiased.
A great way to practice this skill is by following lots of different accounts to challenge your thinking.
To keep your social media timelines diverse, you can follow you can follow accounts like @SimplePolitics, @vicenews and @databutmakeitfashion.
As an early-career journalist, it is important to keep your mind open to new ideas.
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Photo credit to AzamKomolov on Pixabay.