#bbcsms: Changing journalists' social media mindset

'Cultural change': Report from first session on day two of #bbcsms:

Raju Narisetti of the Washington Postdescribed life in his "metrics-based newsroom". Social media provides clear data and "numbers are everything in our business", he said, because numbers mean business. And a successful business allows better journalism.

He admitted that cultural change in an organisation is easier "when your backs are against the wall". Staff numbers at the Post have fallen from 800 to about 630, and are likely to fall further.

Journalists now are encouraged take search engine optimisation (SEO) courses to increase their appreciation of the metrics. For instance, stories that include the journalistic shorthand 'GOP' rather than 'Republican Party' get a third of the number of readers because readers never search Google for 'GOP'.

Narisetti was on the panel at the first session of the second day of the BBC's Social Media Summit, alongside Peter Horrocks, Head of BBC Global News, and Meg Pickard, Head of Digital Engagement at the Guardian.

Discussing cultural change in journalism, Horrocks recalled that it was a year ago that he told BBC journalists: "Tweet or be sacked", to impress upon them that the use of social media was no longer discretionary for BBC journalists.

People contacted him afterwards assuming he'd been misquoted, but he told them he hadn't.

Later in the discussion, Horrocks said he wasn't saying all journalists should necessarily be tweeting - just that everyone needs to understand social media. He said that today big BBC news interviews that aren't tweeted don't get credited to the BBC.

Meg Pickard recalled how 16 years ago she was in the Andes as an anthropologist studying social change - now she's managing social change at the Guardian - which is sometimes a bit "like herding cats".

Her strategy is a "holy trinity" of approaches:

- Products: supporting new technologies, either created in-house (such as the Guardian's comments software) or working with third parties.

- People and skills: helping people to understand the challenges of new technologies with education and training so we can "trust our staff to act as the intelligent people they are". Pickard likes to think of a "sandwich" strategy, with the need for support from above - from senior leadership - and, from below, with grassroots activity and enthusiasts.

- Editorial proposition: how does social media help to tell better stories, by furthering our journalism - from informing, to 'changing the world'?

In relation to Horrocks' directive on tweeting, she said that at very the least all journalism students should be using Twitter.

Horrocks talked about not letting the BBC's standards on either taste and decency or its requirements for verification to be affected by the new multiplicity of sources: "We can't just say that because it's out there anything goes."

Original blog post introducing first session on day two of #bbcsms:

Many journalists are thinking hard about how to get the most out of social media - not just to gather and disseminate information but to create new kinds of relationships with their audience.

But within a media organisation there are potential obstacles to the kind of cultural change that's needed.

For instance, in a newsroom it may be those whose backing is most needed, senior managers, who are least likely to be familiar with using social media.

In this first session of the BBC Social Media Summit, we'll debate cultural change - from the big picture to important details such as what social media training courses should include. How much of effecting change is about learning efficient use of the apps, and how much about acquiring new attitudes?

Please contribute your thoughts, ideas and experiences in Comments below, and we'll feed them into the debate on Friday. What practical changes should we be focussing on?

Details of the Summit and confirmed guests here; list of attendees here.