The Internet is where it's at as far as the news business. So if you're an aspiring journalist, the time to establish an online presence for yourself is now. Many employers Google the names of job applicants, and the more good stuff that shows up, the better. So use websites, blogs, Facebook and Twitter to create an online archive of your stories and promote your work on the web.
1. Create a Website or Blog to Archive Your Work
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More and more professional, citizen and students journalists are starting their own websites or blogs, driven by the need not just to archive their work, but to create an online presence - a brand - for themselves.
2. Use Facebook to Promote Your Stories
Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites have gotten a reputation as places where users routinely post the most mundane details of their daily lives to their closest friends. But a growing number of professional, citizen and student journalists who are using Facebook and similar sites to help them find sources for stories, then spread the word to readers once those stories are published online.
3. Use Twitter to Keep Readers In the Loop About What You're Working On
It was a typical night on the job for Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Alex Shebar: A car had been found at the bottom of the Ohio River, possibly with a body inside. Armed with his Blackberry, Shebar was headed to the scene. And if you’d been following Shebar on Twitter that night, you could have tracked his progress through his tweets. More reporters than ever use Twitter to find sources and promote their stories.
4. Some Cheap and Easy Ways to Build Your Online Presence
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Whether you're a professional reporter, citizen journalist or j-school student, it's more important than ever that you create an online presence for yourself, and the best way to do that is to start your own website or blog, and create an archive of your stories. Here are some cheap and easy ways to do that.
