Social Media 101, 202, 303: Online, Feb. 8-10

We’re offering three separate Webinars on using social media. Each session is designed to help someone with a specific level of experience with social media. But feel free to take any one or all three.

• SOCIAL MEDIA 101: The basics for social media newbies.
• SOCIAL MEDIA 202: Tips for reporters about using social media sites as research tools.
• SOCIAL MEDIA 303: Filtering to contain the clutter.

Robin J. Phillips, Web managing editor at BusinessJournalism.org, will present these three Webinars.

Whether you’re a newbie or a veteran at social networking, you can pick up pointers from these free Webinars. The first hour targets those new to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The second hour will help you take social media to the next level. And the third hour will explore ways to keep you from feeling overwhelmed by all the info coming at you from social media.

SOCIAL MEDIA 101: How to get started.

Your kids, your colleagues, the lady in the lunchroom .. they’ve finally convinced you that there may be value in using social media tools for work and play.

But what now? How do you get started? Should you create both a personal and a professional account on Facebook? On Twitter? Can you join LinkedIn if you aren’t looking for a job? How do you find people to follow? How do you get people to follow you?

It may feel like you are late to the game of social media. It seems like everyone has been using it for months and, frankly, it’s a little embarrassing to admit you’ve never Tweeted.

Don’t worry about it. Phillips will walk you through the basics of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. She’ll help you get started.

SOCIAL MEDIA 202: How social media can make you a better business journalist.

So you have a LinkedIn page and have been on Facebook and Twitter since the election. What now? Phillips will show you ways to:

* turn social media tools into databases to help find local stories and sources,
* distribute your content and track whether people are reading your links,
* connect with your community,
* find out what real-time conversation is happening about issues on your beat,
* take part in that conversation, and
* use Twitter lists to help you track what people are saying.

This session will also cover ethics, standards of practice and practical tips on using sources that you find on the Web.

SOCIAL MEDIA 303: Containing the clutter. You’re pretty good at the social side of Twitter and Facebook and you use them professionally to share your work and find new ideas and sources.

Most everyone hits a point where the information coming in on social media tools begins to feel overwhelming. It can become difficult to know what information is important, what’s worth spending time on, what links are worth clicking on, what articles worth reading.

Phillips will show you tools that help filter, ways to set up keyword searches, tactics for juggling your social media profiles.