WHSV: Harrisonburg, VA
http://pinterest.com/whsv/
Boards: 14
Followers: 600+
Most Pins: “Weather Forecasts” Board

FOX8: Cleveland, OH
http://pinterest.com/fox8news/
Boards: 20
Followers: 600+
Most Pins:  ”Fox 8 Moms!” Board

KING: Seattle, WA
http://pinterest.com/king5seattle/
Boards: 28
Followers: 550+
Most Pins: “Food & Recipes” Board

WPVI:
http://pinterest.com/6abc/
Boards: 11
Followers: 250+
Most Pins: “6ABC Favorite Recipes” Board

KARK: Little Rock, AR
http://pinterest.com/kark4news/
Boards: 25
Followers: 300+
Most Pins: “Easter 2012″ Board

KSAT: San Antonio, TX
http://pinterest.com/ksatnews/
Boards: 17
Followers: 150+
Most Pins: “Weather Forecasts” Board

WBAY: Green Bay, WI
http://pinterest.com/wbaytv2/
Boards: 11
Followers: 150+
Most Pins: “Sports” Board

KHQ: Spokane, WA
http://pinterest.com/khqlocalnews/
Boards: 10
Followers: 150+
Most Pins: “KHQ Foods” Board

WPTV: West Palm Beach, FL
http://pinterest.com/wptvnc5/
Boards: 8
Followers: 140+
Most Pins: “WPTV Behind The Scenes” Board

WSB: Atlanta, GA
http://pinterest.com/wsbtv/
Boards: 14
Followers: 50+
Most Pins: “Action News Staff” Board

KCAU: Sioux City, Iowa
http://pinterest.com/kcau9/
Boards: 7
Followers: 25+
Most Pins: “KCAU’s Favorite Recipies” Board

WRDW: Augusta, GA
http://pinterest.com/wrdw/
Boards: 9
Followers: 25+
Most Pins: “All About Journalism” Board

WSVN: Miami, FL
http://pinterest.com/wsvn/
Boards: 4
Followers: 15+
Most Pins: “In the News” Board

KGW: Portland, OR
http://pinterest.com/kgwnews/
Boards: 7
Followers: 15+
Most Pins: “KGW Pet of the Day” Board

CW56: Boston, MA
http://pinterest.com/cw56boston/
Boards: 16
Followers: 15+
Most Pins: “CW Couples and Love Triangles” Board

Still looking for more? You can also take a look at this list of newspapers on Pinterest. Leave a comment if you know of a local newsroom doing a great job using Pinterest!

Early studies show this is leading to increased traffic to the custom apps. It’s great news for newsrooms looking to increase engagement with viewers. But it requires admins to find the right Apps for their Timeline. Here’s how some newsrooms are using Custom Apps to kick their Timeline to the next level.

1. Gathering News Tips

NBC New York has a simple News Tips App on their Timeline to solicit leads from users. It works because the App Thumbnail includes a clear call to action “Submit News” and the App itself is a simple, easy form for viewers to fill out.

2. Meet the Team

KOMU-TV created a simple app showcasing their on-air talent. From here, you can also connect to the Anchor’s Facebook or Twitter account and get their email address. It’s a bit rough around the edges as far as design goes, but KOMU gets an A for effort as they’re one of very few stations that has successfully developed its own Facebook App.

3. News Headlines

KOKI Fox 23 is using one of the SocialNewsDesk Newsroom Apps for Facebook to provide News Headlines on their Timeline. This News Content App is fully customizable and showcases news delivered via RSS. Each story includes a Read More link which points back to the original story on the station’s website. The App also displays the station’s Twitter Feed.

4. Network Programming

Many of the networks provide plug-and-play Apps to showcase programming. Depending on the nature of the App and your target audience, this may be a nice (free) way to add content to your Timeline with a Custom App. WSMV is currently showcasing “The Voice” App from NBC.

5. Choose Your Candidate

ActionNewsJax is using another one of the Custom Apps inside the SocialNewsDesk suite of Facebook Apps for Newsrooms - the “Choose Your Candidate” App. the customization options are endless. Newsrooms can add up to 12 races (local, state, and/or national) and allow viewers to take a quiz to see which candidate matches their views on the issues.

 6. Contesting

With the demise of the Landing Tab, Contesting Apps are now the default way to build Fans FAST. Fangated contests (those that REQUIRE the user to click Like prior to entering) continue to work wonders for Fan acquisition. But be sure the Timeline Thumbnail has a clear call to action (“Click Here to Win Tickets!”) so that users know where to go!

Have you seen other good Timeline Apps on local newsroom Timelines? Share the link!

Bill Church, executive editor of the Statesman Journal* in Salem, Ore., spoke in a recent Poynter Institute Webinar about the role of journalists in social media, including their rights and responsibilities. Here’s a recap of the Webinar in case you missed it:

Social Media are:

• Expanding news organizations’ reach
• Improving community engagement
• Generating a positive image of local news coverage

So, how should journalists behave? Journalists who tweet can no longer “hide behind their bylines.” According to a survey, over 70 percent agree that journalists should be held responsible for comments made through Facebook and Twitter accounts.

• But, separate blogs work best.

How to build credibility: Journalists should be held accountable for comments or photos they post on personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, especially if these accounts are public.

• The public expects journalists to communicate, engage and establish trust. 
• “It’s okay for journalists to have a life.”

Little room for error. More access to information has led to a paradoxical shift in how much of that information is expected to be accurate. 

• Meanwhile, most agreed that journalists face more challenges today.
• The majority of people agree that their local newspaper is the most credible source.
• Is news and information received on Facebook and Twitter credible? (see image)

How to make it happen:

• Create a social media team, but don’t make it a team of one.
• Staffing: it’s a priority, so media organizations should be staffing for it. 
• Identify influencers in your community.

Develop a social media policy. Update ethics policies and procedures, including social media guidelines.

Here are some examples from the webinar:

• “My opinions do not reflect the opinions of my employer.”
• “Retweets don’t mean endorsements.”
• Apologize quickly if there’s a misunderstanding. Transparency should be a part of social media policy.

How is a social media policy different from any other? It isn’t.

• Include guidelines on how to represent the company.
• Include how to post meaningful responses.
• Remember that the rules haven’t changed.
• Conduct regular training on social media usage. Focus part of that on how to build and engage a community
• Keep conversations fresh. “Nothing kills social media like sameness.”
• Target conversations to your ideal audience.
• Include segments on emerging trends.

*The Statesman Journal was a 2010 APME Innovator of the Year Finalist and 2011 winner of the Gannett Foundation Award for Digital Innovation in Watchdog Journalism administered by APME.

Gathering news using the old Wall layout:

Prior to the switch to Timeline, all Brand Pages had a “Wall” where posts made by others were intermixed with posts made by the Page in reverse-chronological order. This made it easy to take a quick glance at the Wall and see if anyone had uploaded a cool picture or video during a news event.

Gathering news using the new Timeline layout:

Your Facebook Page will now feature a section at the top right of the Timeline that shows a condensed summary list of recent “Posts from Others” rather than spreading them all over the page. The “Posts by Others” box shows the profile picture of the user and the text they posted. It does not show the image or video posted by that person unless you click the tiny paperclip icon to expand this comments box.

This makes it much more difficult to see – at a glance – what posts have been made by others to your Timeline containing usable news content such as photos and videos.

At this time, there is no way to chronologically mix “Posts by Others” with “Posts by Page” in the same way the old Wall layout did. However, here are some suggestions on how to overcome this change:

1. Change your view to “Posts By Others”: Just below the Apps on your Timeline, there’s a small gray dropdown which will allow you to change YOUR view.

Note that this does not change the default view as seen by others – it only changes what YOU see. If you select “Posts by Others”, it will update the Timeline so that the only posts on your Timeline are Posts by Others. It’s much easier for you to glance through them this way and look for user-generated content.

2. Highlight great “Posts by Others”: Facebook claims there is a way to feature a particular post by someone else on your Timeline. They way they suggest doing this is by going to the Admin Panel > Manage > Use Activity Log. Then, find the post (organized by date), click on the Circle, and select Highlighted on Page. I will warn you though, this seems to be buggy and isn’t working consistently for me right now.

3. Use a Social Media Management Platform: As Founder of SocialNewsDesk I have some bias in toward this particular suggestion… but in all honesty, Timeline’s new view of “Posts by Others” makes 3^rd party managers even more useful for news organizations because (in SocialNewsDesk’s case) we will display all “Posts by Others” including thumbnails of any user generated content in a single-column view without you having to take any extra steps to see what others have posted to your Timeline.

What’s your experience with the new way Facebook is displaying Posts by Others? How are you dealing with the change?

Ready or not, your brand page will be reformatted on March 30th with Facebook’s new Timeline layout. You have between now and then to get your Timeline setup and ready for release. Here are a few tips on making the most of your Cover Photo:

1. Get Users to Like Your Page

Facebook has removed your ability to set a “Custom Landing Tab” or Welcome Tab for non-fans. This means all users (Fans and non-Fans) will go straight to your Timeline. And it means that your Cover Photo becomes your first, best and only opportunity to convince non-Fans to click the Like button. The best solution would be to include a call to action in the Cover Photo. But Facebook isn’t making this one easy. Their rules for Cover Photos prohibit admins from including a call to action to Like.  As such, be creative and clever with what you include. A well-designed graphic and clever language may be more convincing then a studio photo.

2. Be Careful with Talent Photos

Everyone has a different computer monitor and will see your brand Page slightly differently depending on the resolution of their monitor. Plus, in some browsers, Facebook scrolls down slightly when a user first loads the Page…obscuring the top few pixels of your Cover Photo. Be mindful of that as you design your Cover Photo or you could wind up with something like this:

A better option would be to show a wide-shot of the studio or of your community. This way if a portion gets cut-off, you won’t lose your head.

3. Include a call to action for your Apps

Because of its size and prominence on the page, your Cover Photo is a perfect place to promote your Apps. As I mentioned, Facebook has taken away your ability to make an App the Default Landing Tab. As a result… users will inevitably be confused about how to enter. To combat this, create a special Cover Photo graphic that mentions the Contest App. Again note that Facebook’s rules prohibit you from “referencing user interface items” such as Like, Share and other site features…however, they do not explicitly forbid you from referencing or promoting an App.

Take a look at TODAY and ESPN’s brand pages and let me know what you think about the new format.

1. Social Impressions Result in New Viewers

17 percent of respondents say they have started to watch a show because they saw a mention of it on social media. Here’s why:

2. Social Impressions Keep Viewers From Changing Channels

31 percent of respondents say they have continued to watch a show because of a social impression.

3. More Viewers are Watching Live to Avoid Social Spoilers

27 percent of respondents say they’re watching more live TV to avoid plot and reality spoilers that may be revealed in real time on social networks. In 2010, 20 percent said they were watching live TV because of social spoilers.

How does this impact your view of the value of social media?

“View the story “These Shoes Were Made for… Rioting.” on Storify

Here’s why this can be a great tool for your newsroom:

1) Storify allows you to include any media related to a topic. It’s a great opportunity to promote your newsroom’s coverage of a big event…by aggregating all of the content you produced online, on facebook, twitter, youtube, etc into one simple story which can be shared.

2) Storify allows you to embed the story. So you can put the story on your website and also share it on Facebook and Twitter. Again, this is a great opportunity to drive traffic to your website and also pick up new Fans and Followers. If it’s an interesting story – it will spread virally.

3) Storify is really creative. It’s a new way to deliver the news. Add images, videos, articles alongside user-generated content. Telling a story with Storify enables a journalist to aggregate factual information alongside the community opinions that often give the best flavor.

4) It’s free. And I KNOW you like that!

To begin, click “Insights” on the left navigation column of your Facebook Fan Page (you’ll need to be an admin to access this). Instantly, you’ll see a graph showing how your page is trending over the past month. They key here is to Export all of the data into a spreadsheet so you can really get a grip on the details. You may want to set up a monthly reminder for yourself to pull this report every 30 days. However, you can specify any date range.

From here, you’ll be able to identify key metrics and then drill down to discover what caused each change… (contesting, content, a major news event or something else?) Keep in mind that Insights data is not available before July 19, 2011.

Next, identify key metrics that matter to your news organization. I’ve listed my top 3 recommendations below. But be sure to scan through the spreadsheet to see if anything else jumps out at you.

1. “Daily Talking About This by story type. (Unique Users)”

This is one of several tabs along the bottom of the Exported spreadsheet. To find it, click the right-arrow until you see the tab called “Daily Talking About This by story type”, then click the tab.

This tab shows a list of dates as well as a daily total number of “People Talking About This” broken down by type of interaction.  The PTAT (or People Talking About This) is the number of unique people who have liked, commented on, or shared one of your wall Posts, liked your page, posted to your page, or mentioned your page. This is Facebook’s way of telling you how engaging your Page’s content is. Pay special attention to the “Page Post” column. Look for highs and lows. The higher – the better. If one day is particularly high…go back and look at posts from that day. This will show you what types of posts are resulting in such high PTAT rates. In this example, 2/3 shows a spike in PTAT.

I went back to the Facebook wall to see what caused it. There was a major news event that day – a high-profile murder trial. The community was highly engaged and that resulted in a high PTAT. This instant feedback shows that the story resonates with this station’s Fans and that the newsroom should make a point of posting additional updates and engaging the community on this issue as much as possible.

2. “Weekly Reach by City”

This is another tab along the bottom of the Exported spreadsheet. It shows the Weekly Total Page Reach broken down into cities. “Page Reach” is the number of unique users who have seen any content associated with your page. The Weekly Reach by City chart shows you what geographic areas of your community are most tuned into your Fan Page. And also, it shows areas where you can look to grow. 

3. Daily Total Impressions

You’ll find this column on the tab called “Key Metrics”. There’s a ton of stuff in the “Key Metrics” tab, so you’ll have to scroll to the right for a while to find it.

Impressions are a great way to measure success and opportunity. Take a look at the example below…if we assign a $5CPM to these impressions, the station getting an average of $1867 worth of FREE impressions (brand advertising) EVERY DAY just by posting to Facebook.

There are two ways to increase your Daily Total Impressions…

A) Get more Fans. The more Fans you have, the larger your potential audience becomes and impressions increase naturally.

B) Improve your engagement level. Facebook’s Edge Rank rewards highly-engaging posts by showing them more often…which results in higher Daily Total Impressions.

1. Get a Grip on Best Practices

Identify 4 or 5 best practices as key goals for 2012. Perhaps you want to set a frequency goal to improve the referral traffic to your website. Or maybe you want to include more links with posts. Another great best practice goal would be to write better social media teases so that more Fans/Followers watch your broadcast.

2. Take Inventory

Do you have a list of everyone with administrative and password access to your station’s social media accounts? Is there a list of all the accounts and how they’re being used? Would you be able to track down the source of an unsavory post by keeping track of who is posting what and when? If someone left your organization, are there systems in place to immediately remove their access to the newsroom’s social accounts? If not, it’s time to take stock before disaster strikes!  

3. Get Smart About Contesting

Contesting is the most popular way to get new Fans fast. But consider what else you could be getting by giving away a prize. Think of ways to turn your contest into a traffic referral source for your website or to generate enthusiasm about your newscast. Stop gathering Fans for fans-sake…and start gathering them with purpose.

Facebook: The most current data from Facebook suggests that optimum frequency for newsroom posts depend on the goals of that newsroom:
5-10 Posts per day yeild the highest feedback (likes and comments)
11-15 Posts per day yeild the highest referral traffic

Twitter: I have yet to find a study related to Twitter frequency specifically for Journalists. However, several studieshave shown that 1-4 Tweets per day yeild the highest referral traffic. These studies focus on brands and individuals. My general thought is that newsrooms can get away with a much higher frequency rate so long as they’re putting out valuable content.

Of course the real key is enforcement. It’s not practical in a busy newsroom to run around with a stopwatch, keeping track of when the next Tweet is due. This was the inspiration for one of SocialNewsDesk’s most popular features: the Frequency Manager. It’s worth mentioning since we are on the topic and since SND is the ONLY social media manager with this feature. Inside SocialNewsDesk, newsroom managers set an individual frequency goal for each of the accounts attached to the system. Then, SocialNewsDesk monitors how often posts are made and displays information about when the next post is due. Here’s a snapshot:

If you’re interested to see how it works in a live demo, reach out to me anytime. kwilson [at] socialnewsdesk.com.