Social media was the first topic of the day last month at Tribune Tower in Chicago, where 24 sports journalists from the Midwest met to share ideas.
The meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors’ Great Lakes Region began with Phil Kaplan, sports editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel and APSE’s first vice president, sharing some of his social media knowledge.
"What I tell you today," he began, "probably will be old news in two months."
Nevertheless, Kaplan proceeded to explain ways that social media has helped the News Sentinel become a leader in online journalism, mainly emphasizing the ways Twitter and Facebook can be used to help deliver the news directly to readers.
"I was surprised when I was in Pittsburgh," Kaplan said of the 2009 APSE convention, "of how many sports editors are not on Facebook, Twitter – nothing.
"You have to at least try. You don’t have to go crazy, but you do have to find new ways to connect with people."
A discussion of useful Twitter tips followed, as did a debate on how or whether online journalism will become profitable. Kaplan said of the profitablility debate, "Our job is to produce news. It’s the online people’s job to figure out how to make money.
"Nobody has all the answers," Kaplan said. "Try everything. See what works in your market."
