Journalists Using Facebook for Scoops

As Facebook becomes more mainstream, naturally folks are looking for ways to leverage it for commercial benefit, along with it being a neat place to virtually hang out. One occupation that is using Facebook is journalists.

Why are journalists doing so? Probably for the same reason that human resource folks hang out on linkedin or news organizations all have twitter accounts. It helps them do their job better. Here is an interesting story about a journalist who joined Facebook and got a story within 20 minutes of signing up.

The journalist noticed some interesting activity on the Facebook page of a bioethicist columnist, like a curious status line about having the worst month ever, a job that ended abruptly, and references to lawyers. This got the journalist curious. He started digging and scooped a story.

Have you noticed all the realtors who are on Facebook (and linkedin and twitter) now? Similar deal – these social networking sites are good places to get the jump when folks start moving, companies start downsizing, or organizations start hiring.

These social networking sites are changing the way people find and share information. I am doing research on the effect of twitter on brands. Finding out folks use twitter to find and share information.

Read the complete Journalists Using Facebook for Scoops article.