Feb 13th, 2011
Guest Speaker: Mandy Jenkins
Mandy Jenkins came to our Comm. 361 class to speak to us about an array of things concerning online journalism and the rise of social media. Jenkins works as a social media producer for TBD.
TBD is a local news website for the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. area. It’s a wonderful news website that has a great tool called News Near You where you can type in your area code and get specific news correlated to where you live.
Jenkins, who is from a rural town in Ohio, explained how as soon as she was introduced to the web she was hooked. She became an addict and was always searching for more.
“Networking is all about building a relationship online,” – Jenkins
Jenkins personal blog helped her connect with people she knew who were doing the same thing. It helped her build a foundation to further her work.
She explained that her discovery of Twitter in 2007 lead her to making wonderful connections and relationships in her field of work. She actually ended up meeting her employer through Twitter. This just goes to show the power of social media.
Jenkins explained how it’s important not to ignore people’s comments and always try to respond to them. Whether they’re positive or negative.
“I always try and do my best to respond to everyone who writes to me, even if they didn’t have anything positive to say,” -Jenkins
Jenkins ended her presentation by giving the class some very helpful websites to utilize as online journalist. Here they are:
I thought her coming to class was very helpful and gave a good inside perspective to how social media is really the wave of the present.
