Building a digital audience

BANGALORE: ‘‘Strategic use of social media can help journalists connect with their audience while building a brand for themselves,’’ said Sree Sreenivasan, dean of Student Affairs and Digital Media Professor, Columbia university Graduate School of Journalism, New York City.Sreenivasan was speaking on social media trends and journalism at the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media on Thursday.Calling social media the future of journalism, Sreenivasan, however cautioned that tools like Facebook and Twitter could only amplify a story well written and reported, but they could not turn a bad story into a good one.Instead, posting a bad story might just backfire on the journalist, he said.Sreenivasan said that journalists in several countries have used social media to help them find new stories, ideas, trends and sources of information. Social media also came in handy during the Arab spring, post-disaster Japan, and post-blasts Mumbai.He further added that young journalists should start using these tools and build a network so that it can come in handy when they really need it.Pointing out that Indians were nearly the third largest users of Facebook, Sreenivasan remarked that people would use technology only if they had a compelling reason to do so. While the Internet was not too big in Indian media and in the country, cell phones had helped onnect Indians because people of all income levels and classes have iscovered their tremendous utility.Further, he added that creators of social media platforms were trying hard to ensure that users were authentic, and this could help journalists get credible sources of information.IIJNM is an autonomous journalism school that offers a post-graduate diploma in Journalism in Broadcast, Print and Multimedia.