My takeaways from Social Media Tools at the CUNY J School
Overall, without any biases, Social Media Tools has been my favorite class during the first semester at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. From the bat, having a Social Journalism alum as our professor was a genius move and from day 1, he trust and empathy had already been built. There is so much in the last few months that our class was together that I personally took away from. I’ll share a few things below that specifically stood out for me:
In-class physical/spiritual/theatrical exercises:
I’ll be honest, it did seem a bit silly initially when Luis asked us to “close our laptops” and “stand up” to do a few warmup exercises. Whether it were to let go of our stress by yelling at a point on the wall and expressing our self (even with profanity) to imagining a ‘ball of energy’ that we would pass around to our colleagues in a circle, by the end of the exercise — it was so damn worth it. From my shoulders to my soul, everything became relaxed and there was a new energy that kept me going for the next 2.5 hours of class.
Social Video Assignment:
For this assignment, we were instructed to make a video specifically for social media platforms. I love video and I love social media so this was a no brained I was going to have fun whilst the execution. I wish I had managed my time better and did more than the project I turned it, but I’m glad I did what I did.
I ‘covered’ a South Asian concert in Atlanta and gave a pre-during-post video to it meshed into 1 clip. The best part about this assignment was when we all sat down together in class and watched everyone’s video! This was a beautiful experience as we not only got a chance to see some fabulous work but also got the opportunity to get to know so much more about our colleagues and we’re able to both provide feedback and receive it as well. It was a great peer to peer experience!
Social video is an extremely important platform as video has already taken over everywhere. It is very exciting for me as I’ve already been a part of it prior to class but learning the specific nuances and strategies to correctly implement it for engagement is what is key for me and I cannot wait to make that work soon.
Twitter Takeover:
Twitter has always been my weak point in terms of social media platforms. I regularly use Facebook, Instagram and even Snapchat but twitter always was a bit scary to me. Despite having a decent amount of followers, it was always a feeling of fear or nervousness when I used to tweet something. I over thought and over planned my tweets at times when the platform can be quite the opposite.
When it was announced in class that we will be taking over the official CUNY Journalism twitter account for a weekend, I got pretty excited that overtook my fear and nervousness. The experience taught me to plan the two hours that I was handling the twitter account. Have the necessary media (photos, videos, memes, gifs) ready to go to post including links to relevant articles as well. I was able to get a decent interaction with the audience by researching engagement of the prior tweets and how the audience reacts to them.
It was definitely a very learning and rewarding experience which has give me confidence to pursue my own twitter handle a lot more now. Thanks!
Newsroom Diversity:
The city that we live in, NYC is already so diverse and myself, a resident of Queens, which is the most diverse place on the planet according to the Guinness Book of World Records. I can now proudly say that I am a journalist, despite the fact that still being a student of journalism, especially being enrolled in the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. But, moreover, what I feel pride in is being a Social Journalist.
The fact that Social Journalists are representing and serving a community is what makes it very intimate and important at the same time. It is extremely relevant. With statistics that we received in our last class, provided us with proof that diversity not being a thing in newspapers, publications and especially newsrooms is actually true.
The exercise that we did in class where we were broken down into groups and gave pointers and ideas for showcasing diversity in a national ‘newsroom’ was a very successful one. This is definitely of importance which can help us all individually and as organizations or publications in the actual real world.
The following are points that as a class, we all came together with:
Snapchat Story Assignment:
I use Snapchat on a regular basis and can definitely be considered an avid Snapchatter (yes, I know that’s not a word). The one thing that I know for a fact I miss out on my Snapchat experiences is the ability to tell a story. I would take random snapchats throughout the day but not showcase a complete story out of it.
With this assignment, I was able to use Snapchat to tell a story and even realize how effective of a tool it can be for journalism. I will definitely use Snapchat for more than just a night out now. :)
