The 2011 Kiplinger Fellowship is all about social media. Fifteen lucky journos who land this gig will spend a week at Ohio State University (March 9-16) honing their social media skills and learning about the joys of SEO, strategic tweeting, and other wonders of the Interweb.

Fellows don’t have to pay anything – it’s all free, baby. The Kiplinger Foundation even pays your travel and lodging. Pretty sweet deal.

If you’re interested, then fill out this online application. The deadline to apply is November 30, 2010.

Emily Sweeney is a staff reporter at The Boston Globe. You can follow her on Twitter (@emilysweeney) and find her on LinkedIn among other places.

Talk is cheap, the old saying goes. And its cousin, chat, is cheap, free and easy on Twitter.

Whatever you want to talk about, it’s easy to do a live public chat with people around the world through Twitter. Gone are the days when you had to persuade people to be in front of their computer monitors at the same time and do chat through a Web page. Now, you can chat with people wherever they’re able to reach their Twitter accounts.

All you have to do to follow a Twitter chat is search under the chat’s hashtag — it’s a keyword that begins with a pound sign (and for more on hashtags, check out this post I did several months ago about using hashtags). You can search for the hashtag by going to Twitter’s search page (http://search.twitter.com), but many of the most popular Twitter clients, such as TweetDeck and Twhirl, have built-in search functions now, too. Or, keep up with the chat conversation via your RSS reader like Google Reader or Bloglines — you can get the RSS feed for the chat by searching for the term in Twitter’s search page.

And to join in the chat, all you have to do is Tweet and include the chat hashtag. It’s that simple.

(There are also a couple of sites, such as tweetchat.com, that are supposed to make it even easier to take part in Twitter chats. I’ve never used them, but I’m eager to try them out.)

I’ve been taking part recently in a couple of cool Twitter chats. One is #wjchat. It’s for Web journalists — and that’s probably everyone reading this blog post. It’s at 2 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific on Wednesdays. To keep up with the topics and chat guests, follow the chat Twitter account, @wjchat, and check out their Web site, http://wjchat.webjournalist.org/.

The last #wjchat I attended was on the topic of new business models for journalism. The moderator was @digidave of Spot.Us, a site that is breaking new ground in “crowdfunding” journalism.

Another interesting Twitter chat I’ve been following is #FOIAchat. It’s about freedom of information issues, and it’s held on Fridays at 2 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Central. You can follow @FOIAchat for updates.

I actually got to be the guest for #FOIAchat a few weeks ago, and I got to tell the chatters about my challenges trying to get digital audio files from an appeals court clerk’s office that didn’t want to give them up. (I wound up taking part in the chat while I was actually looking at public records in the offices of an electric power utility in San Antonio using my cellphone as a modem for my laptop. Flipping through a couple thousand pages of records while simultaneously trying to Twitter-chat is a handful, let me tell you.)

There are lots of other chats, some journalism-related and some not. Some smart person has started a Twitter chat Google spreadsheet that I found online listing Twitter chats on a wide variety of subjects. A quick run-through shows there’s #blogchat, #journchat and numerous others you might have an interest in. Or, start your own — come up with a hashtag for the chat, figure out when you want to do it, and pass the word to your friends to take part.

Jennifer Peebles is deputy editor of Texas Watchdog, a nonprofit news Web site in Houston that is a member of the Investigative News Network. Follow her on Twitter at @jpeebles. She also often Tweets as @TexasWatchdog.

I was tempted to call this blog post “10 Ways To Pimp Yourself Online,” but I worried that such a vague label might attract an audience with entrepreneurial aspirations of a different sort, perhaps of the (gasp!) street corner variety.

Since this blog is geared toward the journalistically-inclined, I suppose “building your brand” is a more appropriate description. In any case, here are 10 tips on how to increase your visibility so you can sell your skills, talents, and services….

1. Defend your turf

Sign up for social networking sites and claim your name before anyone else does. Try to be consistent with your usernames. I try to use my real name whenever possible – I set my Twitter handle as @emilysweeney. On Facebook, however, I wasn’t so lucky….another Emily Sweeney beat me to the punch, so I couldn’t use that as my Facebook URL. Don’t let that happen to you!

2. Master your domain

Buy a domain name that you can use as a “home base” – a place where you can post clips and showcase your work. I registered my name –  www.emilysweeney.com -  and I use that URL for my online portfolio.

3. Join a gang

Follow the advice of media maven Dan Schawbel, (author of the Personal Branding Blog)  and form “a Twitter mastermind group.”

“As you may suspect, certain groups of people on Twitter constantly promote and retweet each other. Some of them are in what are called “mastermind groups” — groups of individuals who are committed to helping each other and sharing knowledge amongst themselves. They are communities of supportive colleagues who seek to mutually help each other become more successful.”

Read more about that, and Dan’s other helpful tips, in his excellent column:

How To Build Your Personal Brand on Twitter

4. Leave your mark

While it might be tempting to spray paint your Twitter handle on a subway train, please don’t. There’s no need to vandalize. There are plenty of other ways to promote yourself. For starters, you can add your website URL and Twitter handle to your email signature, your blog comments,  and the taglines of articles you write. You should also put this 411 on your business cards, and all of your social networking profiles. Make bumper stickers emblazoned with your URL.

5. Get LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great resource to find people, and for people to find you. To make the most of LinkedIn, be sure to include all of your recent jobs and relevant experience in your profile.  Use descriptive keywords and post your Twitter account and website up there, too.  Select a personalized URL (See tip #1).  Once your profile is complete, start connecting with people you know and join some groups. Write recommendations for your colleagues, and participate in discussions.

6. Facebook

Facebook can be a great reporting tool – you can use it to find story ideas, background information and sources. It’s also another platform for you to present yourself and get more people to see your work. If you already have a personal Facebook account and profile, you might also consider creating a Facebook Fan Page.

7. Write, write, write

Raise your profile by contributing to media blogs and trade publications like Quill.

8. Tweet, tweet, tweet

Set up a Twitter account and snag your username (see tip #1). Use it to connect with colleagues and tweet links to your work and theirs.

9. Volunteer

Contact your local SPJ chapter and offer to help out. You could serve on a committee, lead a workshop,  mentor a young journalist, organize a panel discussion…It’s a win-win: you’ll be doing a good thing, and it helps raise your profile in the journalism world.

10.  Network

Last but not least, make sure you get out there and mingle your peers. Attend conferences and training seminars. Need ideas? A good place to start is JournalismTraining.org and our very own Digital Media Events calendar.

Emily Sweeney is a staff reporter at The Boston Globe. You can follow her on Twitter (@emilysweeney) and find her on LinkedIn among other places.

Sree Sreenivasan is dean of student affairs at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, a social networking whiz, and an all-around cool guy. He recently stopped by The Boston Globe to talk to reporters and editors about the joys of Twitter and how to tweet efficiently and effectively. He showed us some handy Twitter-related tools that journos can use to locate sources, find story ideas, and get more people to check out your work. Here’s a quick sampling:

1.) HootSuite – web-based service allows you to track tweets, manage several Twitter accounts at the same time, and schedule when your tweets will be posted (so you can tweet into the future)

2.) Twiangulate – Find out who the people you follow are following. Great way to discover new sources.

3.) FriendorFollow – Find out who’s following you back (and who isn’t)

4.) Twitcam – Live video streaming. Looking forward to trying this – sounds really cool.

5.) Twitpic – I use this service. Easy way to share photos and images.

6.) Search.twitter.com – Find trending topics.

7.) Monitter.com – Search tweets by location. Another site worth checking out is Trendsmap, which lets you view trending topics in any location, in real-time.

For more tools and tips, check out Sree’s Social Media Tipsheet and his Twitter Guide for Newbies & Skeptics.

…and YO – a word to the wise!  As you probably know, there are zillions of Twitter apps, tools and services floating around out there, and new ones are being created every day. Many of them require that you type in your Twitter username and password to use them. So be careful! Don’t hand over your Twitter housekeys without doing some due diligence first.  Before you type in your Twitter account information and password into any website, make sure it has a solid rep and has been reviewed by some reliable media experts (like Sree, or the good folks here on SPJ’s Digital Media Committee

———————————————————————————

Emily “Spikey Em” Sweeney is a staff reporter at The Boston Globe. You can follow her on Twitter (@emilysweeney) and find her on LinkedIn, among other places.

R U you ready for the collision of social media and public records? Is your state ready?

University of Texas journalism professor Wanda Garner Cash had an excellent column the other day in the Texas Tribune about how Texas’ open records laws haven’t kept up with the changing technology, such as the advent of Facebook and Twitter. She noted several things legislators should do to update the laws to ensure transparency in an increasingly tangled-up social media world.

But Texas can’t be the only state facing this issue.

So here’s my challenge to you for the week: Read Prof. Cash’s column — then sit down and think about how well your state’s public records laws deal with text messages, PIN messages, DM’s on Twitter and Facebook messages and write your own piece — whether it’s a column on your news organization’s site or your personal blog or wherever you can. Make this an issue in your newsroom, in your community, in your upcoming elections.

Let’s work to help the public stay one step ahead of government officials and their use of technology, not two steps behind.

Argentine journalist, Sandra Crucianelli knew something was missing when she attended the IRE conference in Miami in 2008. She couldn’t find a book on digital media tools for journalists in Spanish.

Crucianelli has now written the book in Spanish called “Herramientas Digitales Para Periodistas.”  It’s been published by the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, and is available for free in a PDF that can be downloaded. Here’s the link: http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/hdpp.php

I looked over this online book and strongly feel it’s a great resource for reporters who work in Spanish language newspapers or online news sites.  It’s also handy for reporters who are learning Spanish in hopes of someday working in Mexico, Spain, and South or Central America.

The book includes chapters on accessing databases and official documents, using social networks, video conferencing, photo galleries and blogs.

Rebecca Aguilar is an Emmy Award winning freelance multimedia reporter in Dallas. She produces videos, digital slideshows along with her reports. She is currently working on an Associate’s Degree in Multimedia Development.  She can be reached at aguilar.thereporter@yahoo.com

Most of us have covered more than one trial in our careers.  We go through the same steps–go to the trial, watch the players at work, write what is said and done in the courtroom and meet our deadline. 

London Free Press reporter, Kate Dubinski took it one step further.  She recently used Twitter during a high profile case to give readers a play-by-play on what was going on during the trial. Here a few key points from an article she wrote for The Canadian Journalism Project. 

 1. She started with a few dozen followers and in the end had more than 1,000 followers on Twitter.

2. The newspaper had to assign two reporters to the case: One to tweet and the other to report it for the paper.

3.  Dubinski learned quickly how to prioritize information because she could only tweet 140 characters.

4.  She used links to Google images to show readers images of such things as the type of gun used in the crime.

5.  She also used links to direct followers back to the London Free Press website.

6.  Dubinski also says some of the followers became sources who gave her background information.

 Here’s Kate Dubinski’s story Tweeting a Trial which can teach many of us another way to use Twitter and get more readers interested in our news coverage.

 Rebecca Aguilar is a multiple Emmy Award winner.  She’s has spent much of her 28 years in journalism in television, but is now a freelance multimedia/online reporter based in Dallas. She can be contacted at aguilar.thereporter@yahoo.com

“The people have Tweeted.” And apparently they really like chewing Trident Layers gum.

When Trident recently paid for full-page ads in USA Today, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the maker of the new, multi-flavored gum may have made history. They’re the first company to “embrace real-time Web-branded conversations” as marketing tool in a mainstream print ad, according to Tim Leberecht of CNET.com.

But the ad — featuring a giant pink and red gum strip surrounded by 10 enthusiastic Tweets such as “Trident Layers. The gum that loves you back” — pushes Twitter toward a thin, transient pop culture line. At what point does a social networking site cease to be cool? I’m sure News Corp execs, who hotly dispute the notion that MySpace is now “uncool,” secretly wish they knew the answer to that question.

Less than five years ago, Rupert Murdoch spent $580 million in cash to purchase MySpace in 2005. But now advertisers are following users out MySpace’s digital door. Yet, between the spring of 2008 and the same period this year, Facebook nearly doubled its unique U.S. visitor total to 70.28 million while overtaking MySpace, which lost 3.4 million unique U.S. visitors over the same span.

Meanwhile, MySpace fired 30 percent of its U.S. staff in June amid an ad sales slump. Advertisers are expected to spend $520 million this year at MySpace or 14 percent less than in 2008, while Facebook’s worldwide ad sales are projected to rise 20 percent to $300 million this year, according to the research firm eMarketer.

As Matthew Flam wrote about MySpace in a June story at Crainsnewyork.com: “Some observers feel that with a home page ad that reads ‘Meet Russian Women’ and a Wild West atmosphere that has resisted efforts to transform it, MySpace will never get its buzz back.”

None of which is to say that social networking sites suddenly become uncool by partnering or associating with advertisers. (In Twitter’s case, Trident concocted the ad and its team discovered the positive gum Tweets via a Twitter search, according to Leberecht of CNET. Trident then used the Tweets after seeking permission from the Twitter users who posted them.)

Just look at Burger King. Its brilliant marketing push for the Whopper, conceived by MDC Partners’ Crispin Porter + Bogusky, offered a free coupon for the burger to any Facebook user who “defriended” 10 people. Facebook users dropped a whopping 233,906 friends for the Whopper, which lead Facebook to ask Burger King to take the app down.  The ad agency behind the gimmick told The Wall Street Journal that the controversy generated 32 million news articles and media mentions.

Ultimately, it might not be so difficult to tell which Web sites will cross the line into cultural irrelevancy. Few companies succeed when they assume they’re indispensible. Most of all, Web sites must continually innovate and adapt to users’ wants and needs. As Charlene Li, founder of the research firm the Altimeter Group, told the LA Times in June, “The speed with which a company like Facebook is able to innovate and keep things fresh is the key to survival in this space.” 

Scranton-based communications professional Daniel Axelrod spent five years as a full-time newspaper reporter before moving into public relations in April. He is president of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Keystone Pro Chapter, which covers most of Pennsylvania, and 2009-10 vice chairman of SPJ’s national Digital Media Committee.

Interactive timelines are a great visual way to inform and engage users about your news topic.

Dipity timelines can do more than display simple text. Adding photos, links, and pulling in RSS feeds are just a few of the fun features you can play around with.

Timelines created in Dipity can be displayed using a standard linear graph or in ‘Flipbook’ mode which is similar to a multimedia carousel or ‘List’ which displays the content in a cataloged format.

Whether you are detailing a series of events that lead up to a major news event i.e., the spread of the swine flu, or providing a historical and chronological display of events i.e, the History of the New York City Marathon timelines are no longer confined to the boring textbooks of yesteryer.

HOW TO START CREATING YOUR OWN DIPITY INTERACTIVE TIMELINE

Go to Dipity and create a free user account.

Click ‘Add a Topic’

A window will appear asking you to choose a method to craft your timeline: Web search, RSS Feed, Blank.

To begin creating a standard timeline choose Blank.

The window will allow you to give the timeline a Title, Desciption, upload a timeline profile picture, add SEO tags, pick a theme, a timezone, and allow you to determine who you will allow to view your timeline.

I would suggest picking a free theme and allowing anyone to view your timeline.

To start creating events on your timeline click the blue button ‘Add an Event’.

A new window will appear that asks you to include a:

• Title
• Date
• Description
• Upload a picture or paste an image URL
• Add a link
• Include the location of the event (Dipity will generate a map for the location of the event)
• Add a video URL

Once you click ‘Save’ the event will be added to your timeline which you can view in the standard Timeline format, as a Flipbook, List or on the Map.

You can always go back and edit or delete any of the fields by clicking the event located on your timeline.

You can click ‘Add a Source’ to feed other online account data into your timeline i.e., Flickr, Tumblr, FriendFeed and Yelp, to name just a few.

Once you have completed adding in all your ‘events’ you can embed your Dipity timeline into your website, blog, or Facebook. Dipity will generate a customized embed code when you click ‘embed widget’.

Dipity is also social media savvy and allows other Dipity users to comment on your timeline and has Twitter, Facebook and a host of other social networking apps to help you spread the word about your cool new timeline.

Still have more questions? Check out the Dipity FAQ.

If you experiment with the RSS timeline feeds you’ll discover that Dipity automatically pulls in the images embedded into your posts or articles. Personally, I think this is a great feature – one less field for me to fill in!

Examples of Dipity interactive timelines:

• All things SPJ
• H1N1 Vaccine
• Apollo Timeline

Hilary Fosdal is the Interactive Content Manager for Barrington Broadcasting Group. She blogs at hilaryfosdal.com and tweets @hilaryfosdal.

Twitter, a microblogging site, can be a great resource for journalists looking for additional ways to find story ideas and sources, as well as share content. It’s similiar to an instant messaging chat room in that you can interact in real time with millions of folks who share your interests. It’s a useful tool because it can show you what its millions of users are chatting about online.

How to sign up and get started:

Your home page, settings:

Welcome to your home page. The box under “What’s happening?” is where you’ll type and send your messages. Below that, you may see tweets, or messages, from another user. You can unsubscribe to those tweets later.

Along the right side of your home page you’ll see your username and a spot for your photo. Below your username you’ll see how many tweets you’ve sent, the number of users you’re following (subscribed to), the number of users that are following you, and how many lists you’ve been added to.

Going down the list, you’ll see a number of links. You’re currently at Home. Clicking @YourUsername will show you a list of all public tweets with your username in it. Direct messages will take you to your inbox and outbox for private messages. We’ll get to Favorites and ReTweets later.

You can fill out your account by clicking “Settings” at the top right of the Twitter page. Under Account, you can add a URL (can be your Web site or publication), one-line bio and your location (city). Click “Save.”

Under Notices you can turn off e-mail and newsletter notifications. You may want to turn these off if you plan to be active on Twitter.

Lastly, click Picture to upload an image.

Adding friends:

There are several ways to find folks you want to subscribe to – or follow – on Twitter.

-Click “Find People” at the top right of the Twitter page. You can search by a person’s Twitter username or name; you can also find them by their e-mail account.

-Use a directory of Twitter users. You can search for accounts by location and topic of interest. Some popular sites include Twellow, WeFollow and JustTweetIt.

-Follow a user’s list. Visit Mashable to learn more about Twitter lists.

Removing friends: On your home page, click “Following.” This will show you a list of every user you’ve subscribed to. Click the cog button, then click “Unfollow.”

Tweeting 101:

There are a number of ways for you to send messages on Twitter:

Tweet: A tweet is a message sent out to the Twitter community. These tweets can be read by your followers and those who visit your profile. These messages are limited to 140 characters, which can create some challenges, especially when sharing links. To help with this, try using a link shortener like bit.ly.

Sending a message to someone: You can send a message to other users by beginning the tweet with that person’s username.

Sending a private message: There are two ways to send a private, or direct, message. One option is to click “Direct Messages” in the right rail. You can chose who you want to message by using the pull-menu. The other option is to go to your home page and begin a message by typing a D followed by the username.

Retweet: A retweet is when someone copies, pastes, attributes and sends out another’s Tweet. Visit Mashable to find out more about retweets.

Favorite: You can Favorite, or save, tweets that you’d like to see again by hovering over the original tweet and clicking the star on the right side.

Other Twitter Tips:

Hashtags: Using hashtag terms are one way Twitter users organize Tweets. By using the same hashtag term, users can find Tweets about one subject easily in search. The more popular a hashtag terms become, the more likely it is to pop up in Twitter’s trending topics.

Lists: Lists allow users to organize their followers into certain groups. By adding friends to these lists, you can view a stream of just their Tweets.

Twitter etiquette:

-Twitter users may not automatically follow you. To build an audience, take the first step by following others with similar interests as you.

-Similarly, if folks do follow you, follow them back. (Of course if it’s a spam account, or something of that nature, there’s no need.)

-Twitter’s a two-way street. If you want people to respond to your Tweets, you have to respond to others’ Tweets.

-Be conscious of how often you Tweet. If you’re having a multiple-Tweet conversation with another user, you may want to direct message one another so you don’t clog up your friends Twitter streams.

Read about more Twitter etiquette recommendations. For more info on Twitter, visit Mashable’s Twitter Guide.

Amanda Maurer is a digital news editor at the Chicago Tribune, who specializes in social media. She blogs at acmaurer.com; you can also follow her on Twitter at @acmaurer.