Social Media As The Brand For Journalists (Digital Ninja School Session with Mandy Jenkins)

Like newspapers, radio, TV, and the internet before it - social media has become a major way in how people get news, information and stories on topics that interest them. How can newspapers tap into Facebook and Twitter as a brand to serve their reader and followers? How can newsrooms use social media for more than just broadcasting links to stories? Should you use differently as a brand than you would as an individual? Can the brand's Facebook be a source of news tips, a platform for community conversation, a more comprehensive information resource for our audience?

For the editors and journalists learning to effectively wield social media as a brand, this is a great opportunity to learn more about using social media successfully as a brand to grow audience and engage readers.

Mandy Jenkins of Digital First Media will be leading a workshop in the New Haven Register newsroom for the Journal Register Company's Digital Ninja program in Connecticut on social media as the brand.

Update: This session has concluded. Replay the live chat below. Video replay will be uploaded later this week.

Jenkins will lead reporters, editors and photographers from JRC's CT newsrooms in a discussion on best practices for engaging on social media as the brand. The session is part of our program to equip our journalists and editors with today's digital skills.

6 ways to prevent crime and murder with digital tools

34 people were victims of homicide in New Haven, Conn. last year.

That's a near-record number for the city. And that's a lot for a city of this size (129,559 population, according to 2010 U.S. Census). So I was curious enough to see how New Haven's homicides compared to similarly-sized cities across the country. I looked at the recently released preliminary crime report for the first half of 2011. Of all 30 U.S. cities in the population range of 20,000 - 40,000, New Haven had the most reported homicides from January to June of last year with 18. Hartford was a close second with 17. No other city in this population range had more than 8. Six of those cities had zero homicides.

In talking about this with New Haven Register crime reporter Bill Kaempffer, he warned that the problem with viewing homicides like this - as a statistic - is the conversation shifts to how dangerous a place like New Haven is. He's right. You can't truly know a city by comparing a murder stat or crime rate to that of another community or city.

This is why Kaempffer and I created the New Haven Homicides Report - to go beyond that annual homicide statistic and individually document each victim and crime. Maybe then the New Haven community could draw more informed conclusions about the trends, neighborhoods and circumstances leading to these disheartening pockets of crime, and explore ways to help prevent more from happening.

So, instead of comparing New Haven's homicide stat to Topeka, Kan. or Simi Valley, Calif., what I should be doing is outlining ways newsrooms, police departments and community bloggers can work with their communities to help prevent crime and murder.

Read on for six things you can do now to help prevent crime and murder in your town.