Mar 4th, 2011
Guest Speaker: Jon DeNunzio
“Journalism is constantly changing.”
This is how guest speaker Jon DeNunzio, user engagement editor for washingtonpost.com, started off his presentation that was given to our Comm. 361 class.
DeNunzio gave us some interesting background information about himself to begin:
- Worked for a few small papers after college
- 1994: Started at The Washington Post
- 2000-2007: Covered high school sports at the Post
- 2007-2010: Web sports editor
- April 2010: User engagement editor for washingtonpost.com
He gave a very good list as to WHY we use social media that included:
- It’s where the users are
- It helps our reporting
- It allows us to build a relationship with users
A very bold statement that he said in conjunction with Marshall McLuhan‘s very famous “The medium is the message” quote in stating:
“It’s not the media, it’s the social.” – DeNunzio
His point to that statement was to be social with your users whenever you can.
Examples of this are:
- Running a poll
- Paying attention to comments
- Asking for ideas
- Asking for photos
- Hosting a debate
Bottom line is to make it clear how you utilize programs to connect with people.
Here are some helpful websites DeNunzio presented to us:
