Journalism is closely linked to the digital world. For this reason, it is increasingly important for journalists and communicators to keep up to date with the developments related to their profession.
New forms of dissemination via the Internet allow for a much greater reach than traditional press. This fact has brought new challenges for journalism, but at the same time new advantages and forms of expression when it comes to disseminating information.
How to be a digital journalist
Physical tools, smartphones, the great allies
We never leave home without them, so when it comes to working as a digital journalist, mobile phones become the best tool , as they allow you to control all your work from the palm of your hand.
These are some of the applications that will help you in your training process as a digital journalist:
ACR
It allows you to record calls, so it can be very useful for recording interviews or statements for reports and news. Currently it is only available for Android, but on iOS you can find similar applications, such as Call Recorder.
Evernote
One of the most downloaded note-taking apps. It allows synchronization between phone and computer, making it especially useful for journalists who need immediate access to their notes. It is available for both Android and iOS.
Bigvu
A useful app for iOS and Android, which can be used for recording video, creating teleprompters and sharing them on social networks.
digital journalist
Help! I'm a digital journalist
Although the Internet offers endless possibilities, if you want to work as a digital journalist, you should not be overwhelmed. The first thing you should keep in mind is that the content with the greatest impact in digital media is audiovisual content . To help you in your work, there are numerous online tools that will make your content more attractive :
STREAMING VIDEO
YouTube
A basic tool for any digital journalist. It is the most famous streaming video platform in the world, with 300 hours of video uploaded every minute. In this article we already told you about its usefulness as a training tool.
Vimeo
Another of the most popular platforms for uploading your videos. Like YouTube, it allows you to stream from its website.
Dailymotion
The French video platform is one of the largest in the world. The maximum length of videos it hosts is 60 minutes.
YouTube as a tool for journalists
PODCAST
Podcast apps have the advantage of being able to upload audio content immediately. They are hosted on both mobile and computer and allow journalists greater freedom of movement , allowing them to upload their audio from anywhere.
Ivoox
It is one of the most popular platforms in Spanish for uploading podcasts. It offers unlimited storage and transfer, and also gives you the possibility to share your audios on social networks.
Soundcloud
It allows you to upload up to three hours of content for list of ceo email addresses free. It also offers the possibility of sharing audios with iTunes and social networks.
Anchor
This is a completely free podcast directory that offers to put your podcast on Apple Connect, Google Play and other directories.
BLOGS
Blogs are the calling card of a good digital journalist . They offer great flexibility when it comes to publishing texts and including images, videos or podcasts to make it more attractive to the public, so they are the best way to spread the content you have already created on the platforms we have shown you. If you want to get started in the blogosphere, these are your main allies:
Wordpress
It is the best-known platform for creating blogs and the most used by users around the world. It is easy to use and can be accessed from mobile devices. Although the free version already offers a large catalog of applications and plugins, if you are interested in exploring everything it offers, they also have a paid version. If you want to become an expert in Wordpress, remember that there are free courses that you can access.
Blogger
It allows you to create your own blog for free. Although it does not offer as many possibilities as Wordpress, it is one of the best alternatives to get started in the world of blogging.
Some digital journalists prefer to use their own websites to distribute their content . In this case, it is best to control the process from the beginning, so having knowledge of computers and programming can be very useful.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Digital cyberspace and social networks have become one of the best showcases for spreading news . Any of the most popular ones, such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, offer digital journalists a speed and visibility that would otherwise be very difficult to achieve. The possibility of creating live videos, as offered by Facebook, Instagram, Periscope or Snapchat , as well as the immediacy provided by stories, stories that are deleted after 24 hours, provide a new way of doing digital journalism.
The new technology journalist must have a community manager side and know how to apply digital tools to bring multimedia content to his community . He must bring out all his professional skills as a journalist to know how to write good texts that engage many people, so that they end up following his publications and the community grows ever larger. Although the number of followers is not the most important metric, knowing how to do good digital communication will result in increased interaction. Comments, shares, likes and other actions on social networks represent a kind of citizen journalism. Where before, in the traditional newspaper there were letters to the editor, now in digital editions, there are comments on the web and on networks, which means immediate feedback on the quality of the type of journalism we are generating.
Training to be a good digital journalist