SOCIAL MEDIA a HANDBOOK for JOURNALISTS 2 "Swedish Radio Will Work with Diversity Within Its Programming

v2.0 SOCIAL MEDIA A HANDBOOK FOR JOURNALISTS 2 "Swedish Radio will work with diversity within its programming. By being methodical with your research on social media, you can instead seek out contact with people who reflect our multi-faceted society and create journalism with many faces, experiences and perspectives, rather than narrow, loud-voiced and privileged groups." – From the section on RESEARCHING IN GROUPS (page 178) 4 PROJECT MANAGERS Christian Gillinger Helena Sahlén PROJECT GROUP/WRITERS Per Palmqvist @tummyboy Joakim Johansson @joakimJ Nicklas Malmberg @7direkt Yasmine El Rafie @YasmineSR Assistant writers Anna Wesslau Josefin Sandstedt Robert Jacobsson Silvija Tolomanoska BOOK PRODUCTION Johan Ljungström Lars Molin Nina Bäckström Art Director Stefan Viterstedt The entire manual is also available in digital format at t.sr.se/srhandbook This handbook was translated into English in collaboration with the EBU Academy Published by Swedish Radio ISBN 978-91-979598-5-8 5 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 11 DIALOGUE 37 This is how Swedish Radio The 360 model 41 works with social media 12 The contract with the visitors 43 The media groups 12 How often should we post content? 44 Digital development editors 12 How often should we talk to our visitors? 45 Superusers 12 What should our posts be about? 47 The editorial teams help each other 13 What tone should we use? 47 How should comments work and how PREPARATIONS 15 strictly should we moderate them? 49 What do we want to achieve with our Three important points for good dialogue 50 presence on social media? 16 Pitfalls to avoid 56 Which social platforms should we use? 16 On anonymous comments 58 How do we organise our work in the Credit and thank 59 editorial team? 18 When things get rough 61 What tools and expertise do we need? 19 Check list for crisis management: 62 What are our objectives and how do we Challenges 69 measure them? 19 Choosing not to have an opinion 69 Recruit the right people 22 Think about how you retweet 70 Start to build a network 23 Think about who you follow or like 71 Choose when you want to be most active 23 Recognising trolls 72 Create accounts 24 Blocking trolls and other disruptive Write a clear presentation 24 influences 74 Personal account or editorial account? 26 Make clear decisions regarding dead Use Swedish Radio’s own images 28 accounts 75 Network 29 Threats and cyberstalking 75 Challenges 32 Legal issues 76 It takes time 32 When does the YGL apply? 76 Don’t under-measure 32 Legal responsibility for comments 77 Don’t over-measure 33 Naming someone on social media 77 Think of security 33 Further reading 77 Legal issues 34 The importance of dialogue 77 How to refer to social media during a Community building: 78 broadcast 34 A fictional example of crisis management 78 Consider the user agreement for new services 34 Remember to protect your sources! 35 Further reading 35 SHARING 86 Protecting your sources 183 Creating social objects 87 Legal issues 186 Good material is the foundation 89 Using copyright-protected material 186 Create a social object 91 Source protection 187 What makes a good image on social Further reading 188 media? 96 General 188 Be creative 109 Clusters/communities 188 Be quick 109 Source protection 188 Be personal 112 Verification 188 Challenges 113 Learning more about somebody 189 Set the agenda 113 Use a number of different channels 113 PRIVATE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA 190 Establish and own your hashtag 114 Recruit ambassadors 115 Challenges 191 Help each other 117 Legal issues 118 GLOSSARY 193 Copyright 118 When does the YGL apply? 119 Programme rules on social media 120 Naming someone on social media 121 Further reading 121 General 121 Packaging 122 Images/visual storytelling 122 Virality 122 RESEARCH 124 News research and routine coverage 125 Get to know the services 129 Be social 139 User-generated material and investigative journalism 140 Doing research in groups 160 Challenges 169 Source criticism 169 Evaluate social media “storms” 180 7 PREFACE Swedish Radio is a public service company, which means that the audience must always come first. We work on their behalf, and our ambition is to be the country's most important media company and its leading cultural creator. This doesn't involve merely creating radio content that fulfils the audience's needs and expectations, but also giving the audience the opportunity to participate in and affect that content. In a media world which is rapidly changing, where competition – and even how media content is consumed – are changing more quickly than ever, our relationship with the audience is central. Social media are in many ways a key to that relationship. Through social media we can reach the audience in new ways, but above all we can create stronger involvement in the topics we discuss and the content we create. The first edition of this manual clearly fulfilled a need and has been important in constructing knowledge about how editorial teams can and should work with social media. It also became an important catalyst for a more profound change within Swedish Radio – a change that had already begun but which was given power and impetus by the manual. It is now explicitly stated in our company strategy that social media is one of the three foundations upon which the company stands, together with terrestrial radio and our own digital platforms. Today, an action plan for social media forms part of all commissions for programmes and channels; openness is one of the company's core values; and one of the strategic goals of the company is to meet the audience where they choose to be present. And that is increasingly on social media, which have become a hub for mod- ern media consumption for ever greater numbers of people. In the majority of age groups, more people receive information via social media on an average day than listen to the radio. In summary, there are four reasons for our employees to be good at social media. • They are an effective tool for doing better journalism • They make the audience more co-creative and participative • They strengthen the brand and increase knowledge of what we do • They disseminate content and encourage more people to listen The social media manual is an important tool for building knowledge about how we best achieve this – and for creating understanding of the fact that there are no easy and fast recipes for success. Working with social media means investing in relationships. Handled correctly, this can create audience confidence. And what can be more important than investing in that? Cilla Benkö Director General, Swedish Radio @CillaBenko 10 INTRODUCTION In spring 2013, we published the first edition of this manual, and we are happy that so many people have used and benefited from it, even outside Swedish Radio. A great deal has happened since then, both in terms of the development of social media and our knowledge about how to use them as a journalist. Large parts of this book have therefore been completely rewritten, revised or updated. We have also seen the role of a journalist on social media becoming more professional. For Swedish Radio, this means that the editorial team's presence on social media doesn't merely act as a support to Swedish Radio's activities on radio (FM) and the internet. What was previously often regarded as a minor task for the web editor, primarily with a view to driving traffic to the main website, today constitutes a completely separate part of the editorial team's daily activities. Many editorial teams within Swedish Radio today undertake journalism in which the specific features of the social platforms are taken into account. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and comments sections all have their own logic and you have to learn the tone and content that works best in each case for the editorial team to be successful. For example, if you work with a niche channel, a programme with a very specific audience or a linguistic minority, social media give you the opportunity to become a hub in a community or network. The people who speak your editorial team's language are perhaps geographically far apart but come together in groups and forums on social media. Swedish Radio's activities are today based on three foundations: FM, digital and social. This means that every editorial team should develop a comprehen- sive strategy for each of these foundations, where journalism through social media constitutes a separate part of the editorial team's work; one comparable with radio broadcasting and publication on websites and in mobile apps. This manual provides guidance for such work and is divided into four sections: • Preparations • Dialogue • Research • Sharing 11 The manual also contains a section about the private use of social media. We have consciously chosen to put the platforms in their own separate section, because we know that this content will date more quickly than the more basic principles the manual contains. With that disclaimer, we still want to share tips and approaches that are valid when this manual goes to press. At the end of the book you will find a glossary that explains any tricky concepts used in the manual. We hope that you find this manual useful! THIS IS HOW SWEDISH RADIO WORKS WITH SOCIAL MEDIA Swedish Radio’s work with social media takes place as close to the publication as possible. We work in a decentralised manner, and the primary responsibility – as for our other journalism – lies with one of our many managing editors. The everyday work is carried out by reporters, producers and some- times social media editors.

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