By Diego Cruz
Last week the website Clases de Periodismo published a free guide in Spanish for journalists and communicators interested in social media management.
The e-book highlights features and tools of the main social networks (like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn) and includes advice and best practices for communicators and businesses. It also contains basic descriptions of other digital media like Vine, Instagram and Pinterest.
The project’s intent is to help journalists adapt to their new role as community managers of social networks without abandoning the rigorous criteria of their profession, explained Esther Vargas, director of Clases de Periodismo, in the introduction to the guide.
“We must continue doing journalism, but focusing on social networks, on new platforms and new audiences, from and for mobile,” Vargas said.
Although managing social media entails many new tasks, like understanding and communicating with audiences or creating and organizing interesting and useful content, Vargas said the most important task for journalists hasn’t changed: fact-checking.
Journalist Sofia Pichihua developed the e-book with funding from Telefónica del Perú and included advice and opinions from prominent communicators in Latin America and Spain.
Recently, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas also published the second edition of its free e-book, “Digital Tools for Journalists,” a guide for journalists working in a digital environment.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
