January Social Media Star: Meghan Miller

The television news business is ever changing. The industry has gone from news on only three networks to 24-hour news channels to the reach and speed of the Internet and social media. Meghan Miller, the Web producer for WMBF News, the NBC affiliate in Myrtle Beach, saw the power and importance of social media in TV news early on, and has been using it ever since to keep a step ahead.

We picked Meghan as January’s social media star, because she’s on the front lines of journalism embracing all that social media can do for this industry. She “gets” it where so many media outlets continue to struggle.

Meghan started the WMBF Facebook page in August 2008 with only 10 fans, but has grown the page to over 10,000! Daily, she manages multiple social media accounts for WMBF, including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and, one you may not have heard about, Bubbletweet. Here is what Meghan had to say about social media:

What was the first social media technology you used?
Facebook. Over the years, it’s slowly become the No. 1 way I can keep a personal connection with my family and friends back in my hometown of York, Pa.

What is your favorite social media tool?
Definitely Twitter. Believe it or not, I was actually against getting a Twitter account, because I didn’t see the point in posting to the world what I was doing 24/7. Now it’s one of the first things I check on my Blackberry when I wake up – to see who’s doing what and what topics are making news in the Web world.

How have you used social media for your business/company and how has it benefited?
In all honesty, it’s one of the most important tools I use as both a journalist and as a Web producer. Social networking takes news to a whole new extreme – it allows us to see who’s doing what, what issues are important to our viewers, and really allows us to make those important connections with those who keep close tabs on our news product.

Our Facebook fan page has just exceeded 10,000 fans – many of which were gained in 2009. That’s an outlet where we can interact with our fans with a “Question of the Day” and post controversial news stories that we know will draw a response from the public. It also allows us to strengthen the push-pull from social networking sites to WMBFNews.com.

Twitter is another – I can’t tell you how many news stories we’ve broken because of Twitter and how many relationships we’ve built with legislators, community leaders, businesses and organizations because of the exchange of a few tweets. If we can’t pull any news stories off of Twitter, it at least helps us get our brains pumping to come up with new, fresh news content for our shows.
On the flip side, we can keep better track of our competition this way.

How have you seen TV news change since you started in the profession with regard to social media?
It has exploded! I can remember when we had 20 fans on our WMBF News Facebook Fan Page and 100 friends on our MySpace page. We’ve been nursing our social networking sites since we first launched in August 2008 and now depend on it for comments on controversial stories that really affect our viewers or our market drivers. Now, you’ll see a “Facebook Question of the Day” on each of our newscasts – and a big push to become a fan of WMBF News either on Twitter or Facebook.

What role do you see social media playing in TV news in the future?
I see it as a way to gather news stories, build the WMBF News brand, draw people into our product, interact with the community and share breaking news when it happens, as it happens.

How much time would you say you spend a day engaging social media?
Ha – it feels like 24 hours a day! It’s hard to gauge because my TweetDeck is always open, I’m always fiddling with UberTwitter on my phone when I’m away from my desk and always checking out Facebook. It’s a part of the job!

How do you incorporate it into your day so it’s not a time waster?
It’s hard! I make sure that when I’m at work – that’s what I’m on Twitter or Facebook for – just work. When I go on dinner break, am heading out to do a story or am on my own time, that’s when I hop on my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts.

What’s your best tip for using social media for business?
Use it as just another tool to better your product and your overall image. Don’t ignore the fact that your viewers or clients are interacting with you on a “virtual” level – it’s the perfect time to draw people in! Engage, interact and don’t ignore!

Is there a social media tool/technique that you think is underutilized that you would like people to know about?
This is where I plug BubbleTweet, I do believe! I think BubbleTweet is an AWESOME alternative to Tweets if you have a webcam. It’s been a cool way to take people behind the scenes during a newscast, break news stories on a more personal and visual level and to show people that the news is more than just TV.

Where can people find you online and via social media?
www.twitter.com/wmbfmegmiller
http://www.facebook.com/meghanmillerwmbf

Post Now, and Forever Wish You Hadn’t

It is often pointed out that one of the major problems with social networking is the blurring of lines between the private and public.

Sure, it was funny when you passed out on the floor at the party, and even more so when your friend uploaded the photos to Facebook – but do you also want your boss seeing that? Or your mom?

A CareerBuilder.com survey published last week shows that 20% of employers are now researching social networks when considering job candidates:

“Top areas for concern among these hiring managers included:

• 41% – candidate posted information about them drinking or using drugs
• 40% – candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information
• 29% – candidate had poor communication skills”

It’s very easy to forget in the ever-connected world that anyone can see what you’re doing – as Lyn found out recently – and it’s more important than ever to watch what is said or posted about you online.

However, even more worrying for me, is when people deliberately publish something which would be better left private.

That is why I was stunned by something I read about the Rocky Mountain News yesterday. A tragic accident in Colorado led to an illegal immigrant killing two women and a toddler. Naturally it was a high-profile incident that generated a lot of public interest, but how clueless did the editor have to be to think that live Twittering the funeral of a three year old would be a good idea!?

“RMN_Berny: family members shovel earth into grave
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:40 a.m.

RMN_Berny: rabbi calls end to ceremony
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:28 a.m.

RMN_Berny: rabbi chanting final prayer in hebrew
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:27 a.m.

RMN_Berny: earth being placed on coffin.
Wednesday, Sep. 10, 11:22 a.m.”

Naturally this has upset many people. Michael Roberts at Denver Westworld Blogs, called it “self-satirizing in the most morbid, inappropriate way possible.” The Guardian (UK) said it was “Going straight to the top of our Inappropriate Use of Technology chart”, while Samuel Freenman, professor of Journalism at Columbia University said, in something of an understatement,

“A memorial service for a murdered, for a slain child is not a fit subject for play-by-play updates”

So, why did they do it? Basically because they could. The same ease which allows you to tell the world how drunk you got last night without thinking of the consequences, allowed the reporters to overlook whether or not what they were doing was actually a good idea.

There is a lesson here for all of us: In an online world, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.