Video gets social through authenticity #smsnyc
Mariita Eager
is head of change delivery, BBC News
Roy Sekoff, the president and co-creator of Huff Post Live, laid down the challenge at the start of the session on how to fill 12 hours of live programming every day without falling into the cable news trap.
He used the Boston bombings story to highlight the HPL coverage and make video a social experience. He said HPL is not designed for breaking news: "Let the cable networks do their thing; we want to do the thing about the thing."
He described HPL as a platform for engagement and said live coverage is the key to that engagement, as is talking to real people who have “skin in the game” - "engagement is our North Star". Following the bombings, HPL interviewed 80 people on Google+ Hangout.
Olivia Ma (@oliviama), head of news and media partnerships at Google+, described HPL as the best example on Google+ Hangouts of what social media is.
Katharine Zaleski (@kzaleski), managing editor of NowThisNews, said 20-second videos taken with iPhones allowed it to capture the scene and atmosphere in the immediate aftermath of the bombings. NowThisNews makes up to 30 videos a day for its video news channel, for mobile and social media. For Olivia Ma, citizen journalists and the now participatory culture of newsgathering provided a 360-degree angle on the story.
Andrew Golis (@agolis), digital director at Frontline, works on long-form investigative documentaries and talked about giving its linear TV programmes the "red carpet treatment" - curating a social experience while using journalists to create a user experience during the broadcast, as well as Q&A and next-day chats with the producer.
He also spoke about how Frontline aims for "authenticity" in its online video and tries to avoid the over-produced feel of TV.
Olivia Ma also spoke about authenticity and how the interaction happening on online video has an authenticity you can't find anywhere else. A common thread in the discussions was that authenticity makes good social video.
Another important question was how to get serious journalism to go viral. According to Katharine Zaleski, you need to go to where your audience is (for example, lunch social networks), use viral video to hook them, and then expose that audience to new and more serious content. She said we need to answer questions that ordinary people have.
Olivia Ma agreed that if you know your audience you can create great video content for them.
And finally tips for aspiring young video producers from the SMSNYC panel: you don't need to go to film school but you do need to learn to edit video and be passionate about it. Their advice: "Just do it."
How to make video social was a stimulating discussion but, in a quick straw poll of a dozen or so people following the session, many felt it didn't really answer its own question.
Citizen journalism meets old-style investigation in Madagascar #smsnyc
Social media deniers have disappeared - next stop New York #smsnyc
