Using WhatsApp Effectively As A Journalist
The popular social media messaging tool ,WhatsApp , is being used by news organizations to spread news.
In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for a total of $19 Billion Dollars, according to Iijnet. The app was then made free and it became even more popular in December of 2017, according to Iijinet.
So what’s the connection with news organizations and WhatsApp? Well journalists use this app to conduct interviews as well as connect to the younger audience, according to Digital Journalism. With the use of WhatApp it’s easier to connect with people across the world to get valuable information.
Another use of WhatsApp is using it for communication in real time.
According to N3Mag, journalists use this app to keep up with what’s going on in real time as well as finding sources to gather a story together. A great example of WhatsApp being used by journalists is when there were protests in Hong Kong and people would exchange information where gatherings would take place as well as sharing where tear gas were being thrown, according to N3Mag.
WhatsApp is an app that could definitely help news organizations as well as journalists get information. With that here are a few tips to use WhatsApp with fully to get the most of it as a journalist.
- Use WhatsApp to communicate effectively to get information with people who are in sight of a news scene.
- Don’t use WhatsApp to find people to interview. Instead use other social media platforms to find people and then send them to WhatsApp to communicate.
- Make sure to identify people first while communicating so you can get real information.
- Remember that people aren’t always going to have the time so keep the interviews on WhatsApp like a regular phone call or email.
- Lastly, keep in mind that WhatsApp isn’t a platform that you can look up people or organizations. This app is a private messaging app so use other resources to support your use of WhatsApp.
