Listen to the panel
Moderator Jan Greene explains why she put the panel together. (MP3; 2 minutes)
She also discusses her experience as a journalist starting a blog, and questions she has about using the technology. (MP3; 3 minutes, 36 seconds)
Greene introduces the evening's speakers. (MP3, 1:31)
Next, Jerry Monti of the Knight Digital Media Center gave a PowerPoint presentation (PDF) about blogging basics.(MP3; 19:43 and his response to a question: MP3; 3:42)
Amy Tenderich talked about her blog, Diabetes Mine, and how she started it four years ago, the challenges she faced, how she grew it to its current successful size/reach, and the pros and cons of having a blog. (MP3; 34:07 and MP3, 2:54)
A Q&A with the audience followed. (MP3, 22:57)
Online technology tips
These links will help you learn more about social networking software and sites:
Twitter for Health Journalists
New journalism is not just about glitzy story-telling
So why aren't you twittering yet?
New York Times' guidelines on using Facebook
Michelle Rafter's WordCount blog (oriented toward freelance life)
Michelle Nicolosi's Print to Online blog (helps journalists gain online skills)
Wired Journalists (blogs on digital stuff in newsrooms)
On a lighter note, see Jon Stewart and Samantha Bee of The Daily Show discuss Twitter.
By Shuka Kalantari
www.twitter.com/shuka_kalantari
Today, consumers are only a click away from a plethora of health information and resources. Health 2.0, the concept of integrating health care into the community through social networking and online tools, is transforming the health care information.
The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of AHCJ met to discuss the benefits of online social networking for health reporters via blogs, Twitter and Facebook on Feb. 23. The event, "Tech Tools for Health Reporters," began with a look at the blogosphere.
Attracting traffic
Blogging can be a good tool for self-marketing in journalism, as long as posts are consistent and substantive. "Post fast and post often," said Jerry Monti, the technology training instructor for UC Berkeley's Knight Digital Media Center. "Don't wait for the whole story," he said. "You can always go back add more."
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Even if one posts often, getting hits on your blog is not easy. Eighty percent of people browsing the Web click on one of the first three search results, Monti said. But it's the popular sites like The New York Times, Wikipedia and WebMD that are most often a part of the coveted top three. So how does a journalist get her blog up there? A key element is to increase Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by getting reputable sites to link to your blog, to link to other blogs and Web sites as well, including those of competitors.
A blog post should have two or three key words that are stressed in the headlines and subheads. Tagging each post will make your blog more search-friendly for users, too. Key word trends are available at Google Trends and Google Analytics shows the popularity of your blog.
Bloggers should avoid clever or vague headlines on their blog posts if they want the posts to show up on search engines. "It can be a good thing to do in print," said. "But online it produces the opposite of what you want."
Content matters
Tagging alone isn't going to bring readers to a blog. "The magic ingredient for making a blog stand out is that you really have to hone in on something specific," said Amy Tenderich, the San-Francisco based author of the popular blog Diabetes Mine. In 2003 Tenderich was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and took to blogging as an outlet to discuss her disease. Her passion for the subject soon drew in a strong readership.
"A defining factor of blogging is author involvement in the situation," said Tenderich, who also does original reporting, product reviews and contests on her blog. Today Diabetes Mine accrues revenue from advertisements, and the popularity of the blog has led to other job opportunities for her.
Tenderich started a Twitter page to accompany her Diabetes Mine. Each Twitter post can consist of no more than 140 characters. WordPress and other blog templates have widgets for linking a blog to Twitter and other social media sites. Each time a blog post is written, it can then link directly to a designated Twitter page.
There are myriad free online tutorials explaining technology tools in detail. Jan Greene, a freelance health care reporter and the moderator of the AHCJ event, provided a tip sheet with links to information on everything from Twittering for health journalists to The New York Times' Guidelines for Facebook accounts.
