Journalists: How to get the most out of YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn

How to get the most out of YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn

Facebook and Twitter are the fashionable social media networks for now, and we took a detailed look at their use by journalists in Masterclass 6, but there are other networks that we should also take advantage of: YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn among them.

How to get the most out of YouTube

How to get the most out of Flickr

Flickr is generally underused by journalists and publications, but there are some notable exceptions.

Not everyone sees its relevance. Flickr is for stills photographs, and if you aren’t creating them as part of your work, you might not think it that interesting or useful. But there is much more to Flickr than just publishing your own photographs.

You can invite readers to post theirs.

For example, the Daily Telegraph runs photography competitions on Flickr

Readers must join up to submit photographs, and can then have them critiqued by the paper’s picture editors, and enter photography competitions.

Kate Day, the Telegraph’s communities editor, hosts the Flickr group, and links it to her blog, and to the Telegraph

The 10,000 Words blog posted this insight into Flickr’s use by US publications.

They say: “Newsrooms can take a cue from Slate and The Consumerist and create a photo pool or group where readers can submit photos that fall into a specific category. For Slate's Shoot the Recession photo pool, readers and photogs were invited to submit photos that captured the economic recession.

The Consumerist, a consumer affairs blog, asks readers to submit photos that capture commerce in America that are selected by editors and featured on the site.

Many local newspapers find a great appetite among their online readers for photography – particularly for archive images of the town

How to get the most out of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is especially useful if you are a B2B journalist or a specialist in an area where highly knowledgeable people read you. You can build a core around you on LinkedIn. Your linked in group may well be relatively small and very selective, but it’s great for really committed readers and contacts.

And, if you offer personalised services, the sort of thing discussed in my facetime blog post, then LinkedIn can be a great place to develop and promote that part of your business.

Here are three key ways you can use LinkedIn:

• Networking
• Research
• Career development

At this perceptive post, Penelope Trunk comes up with 10 ways to use LinkedIn

Here are some highlights, quoted from what she suggests:

Find work, and get noticed for the work you do

"A well-crafted profile will set out what you can do, and you can link to blogs and websites where readers can find your work."

Build a focused, supportive network

“Connect to your top sources, important industry contacts, co-workers, and people who know you well.  These are the people who can help you do your job, find new opportunities and pass on story ideas that are more likely to be of interest to you."

Find an expert fast

"The advanced search feature is the most powerful tools you can use on LinkedIn.  You can search for any combination of keywords, job title, company, location, industry”

Confirm a rumour

"One of the best ways to find out the inside scoop on companies is to find former employees who are willing to talk to you.  To do this, use LinkedIn's advanced search for the company's name and uncheck the "Current companies only" box.  The results will include both current and past employees.”

Get ideas for sources, topics and trends 

"If you don't want to post a question, LinkedIn Answers has a search box that allows you to search the archives.  This is a great way to search for sources.  A search for keyword "Des Moines" will likely find you folks in the city who like to talk about it, a search for "iPhone" will show you some of the buzz around the product.   A great way to get ideas for stories is to peruse through the various categories of LinkedIn Answers to find out what people are saying about topics and trends.  For example, here are a few of the many categories: career development, personal finance, technology."