Presentation on Citizen Journalism for Social Media Class.

1. Citizen Journalism
By Karen Roussy

2. Pamphleteer Thomas Paine...
 Radical propagandist and voice of the
common man
 Active in local affairs
 January 10, 1776, he published a short
pamphlet, Common Sense
 Provoked considerable controversy
throughout his career as a “citizen journalist”

3.  Federalist Papers
 Authored by Alexander Hamilton, James
Madison, and John Jay
 series of 85 articles or essays
 published serially in The Independent Journal

5. More focused on “reacting” to the news
– rather than “reporting” the news

6. With the tragedy of 9/11 many
ordinary citizens became
on-the-spot witnesses and
their stories and images became
a major part of the story.

7. Citizen Journalism was an integral part and played
an important role in:
Iraq War
London Bombings
2004 Tsunami
Hurricane Katrina

8. Design - keep it simple!
Consistency – be consistent with posts!
Value – ensure value for readers!
Delivery– switch it up! Look at different
methods of delivery – audio, text, video, guests
posts

9.  Create a Buzz...use as many Social Media tools
as possible to promote your blog - ,
and to name a few – the
more exposure, the better
 Tags - allow people and search engines to find
your content easier

10.  What do you want to achieve?
 Do you want to give relationship advice? Comment
on politics? Tell people how to garden? Provide
updates on news stories?
 One of the most important things a blogger can do is
decide who their audience is.

11.  Develop a content strategy
 Choose your subject matter
 Ensure that you have at least a month of
content to ensure that your blog can be
updated regularly
 Utilize guest bloggers
 Link to other digital influences in your posts to
ensure you are part of the broader online
conversation on your chosen topic

12.  Don’t write over your reader’ heads.
 Speak to your target audience
 Don’t try to be everything to everyone
 Provide unique, high quality content
 Be clear
 Simplify
 Provide value