For media outlets, social media is a great way to reach the consumer and make their reporters more relatable. Journalists usually post about stories that they might be following or reporting on, but also do hold a social life outside of the office and they might also interact with friends and post topics that are not related to their journalistic field.

Derrick Docket, the Director of New Media and Technology for the Missouri Valley Conference, believes that most followers should know what to expect when following a journalist.

“Most people use common sense and know who they are following and what to expect. I’ve always been of the mindset that its ok to have a personality on social networks…that’s why they are called “social.” I think a key is to not over-do it and to make sure that you aren’t offending anyone in the process. One of my twitter rules has always been “if you can’t say it out loud or to someone face-to-face, then you probably shouldn’t tweet it.”

The Des Moines Register’s Tommy Birch echoes Docket’s comments on how to find the balance on what to post.

“It’s tough at times understanding the proper balance,” commented Birch. “On one hand, you want to be able to engage with readers on a personal basis. On the other hand, you need to make sure it is always on a professional level and typically pertaining to work. Over time, I think I’ve developed the proper balance. The basic rule of thumb for me is, if I have any doubt if it is appropriate or not, I don’t Tweet it.”

Birch, a sports journalist for the Register, explained a scenario where he had to debate on posting about a subject he was covering.

“John Walters, a respected journalist and friend from WOI, recently announced that he was leaving his post as the sports director at the station,” said Birch. “John is a close friend and someone I’ve had the honor to work side-by-side with. Because I knew him and the announcement came as a surprise, I was asked by my editor to call John and write a very quick story. Throughout the night, I noticed lots of fellow reporters Tweeting to John congratulating him on the job. As a friend, I wanted to address it as well. As a journalist, I knew that it would not look appropriate to readers if I was writing a story and Tweeting personal thoughts to John. In the end, I opted not to.”

However, many media outlets have not established a formal social media policy. Neither the MVC or the Des Moines Register have set up a formal social media policy for their employees to follow. Many, including Birch, say the best policy is to use common sense.

“A number of us have our Twitter accounts plugged in the paper, encouraging readers to follow us,” said Birch. “In that case, we need to be extremely careful about what we are tossing out there. It’s a wide rage of people that are following us, from kids to adults. The slightest thing can offend a reader and while we’re not just representing ourselves, we’re also Tweeting on behalf of the Des Moines Register.”

A camaraderie exists between journalists, as everyone interviewed said they are not afraid to tell a co-worker to tone down their social media posts.

“We’re all on a team,” said Birch. “In this day in age, everyone is always watching what we’re doing, what we’re writing, what we’re Tweeting, and what we’re posting. What we have to remember is that we’re not just representing ourselves, but the company. If the company is shown in a negative light, that could effect whether or not people are interested in our product.”

Paul Kirk, the athletic communications director at Drake University, says Drake athletics has looked at establishing a social media policy for Drake athletes and employees, but is hesitant due to some potential dangers.

“The most difficult part is not drafting a formal social media policy, but deciding whether to do one at all,” commented Kirk. “The sands are shifting so rapidly that it’s sometimes more dangerous to put specific parameters on paper that you must then be held to.”

Docket also believes that the social media world is one that is constantly evolving and journalists have to be conscious of the changes.

“As social media evolves, we must change the ways that we use it,” commented Docket. “Twitter is a way to deliver timely messages and updates to users. Facebook is a way to connect with fans and consumers and to develop relationships. Other social networks are becoming popular each day. And with all of this, there continue to be mistakes made all the time. It’s easy to let emotions take over and it might sound like a basic line of thinking, but it pays to take a step back and to think before you post that message that causes you to think twice.”

While I put off studying for my last go around of finals as an undergrad at Drake University, I’ve been thinking back on my four years here at Drake. Now there will be a reflection blog post next week at some point about how my time at Drake has opened up so many doors for me, but one thing that has changed tremendously has been the use of social media.This first post will be about as one of my professors calls it “The Twitter”.

When I entered college in the fall of 2008, everyone was on Facebook and friending everyone on their floor just to gain more connections at their new school. I did this as well, but then also heard about this thing about Twitter from my Resident Assistant at the time. Being a news and sports reporter for the Times Delphic, I picked a handle and started to follow campus and sports news on it, but didn’t use it a whole lot. Fast forward to today, May 5, when I’m writing this and I have accumulated over 5,500 tweets and have over 300 followers. Not to shabby for a guy who almost gave up Twitter his sophomore year.

In fact, I can’t imagine my world without Twitter, as it has become a way not only to connect with classmates, but also to get the latest and best news. Being a 49ers fan in the Midwest, Twitter is how I am able to keep track on what my favorite five-time Super Bowl Champions are doing by following the beat reporters of the team. I also do this with the Milwaukee Brewers, as we don’t hear a lot of Brewers news in Iowa.

Twitter also helps me follow sport scores while I am no where near a TV, and many of the updates come before a score application would show the update. I came up with this idea for the blogpost while I was sitting at a coffee shop while studying and followed the Milwaukee Brewers game not through text updates, the ESPN Gamecast or listening to the radio broadcast, but by checking my phone for tweets from the Brewers beat guys. I’m also able to check the score of the Drake Bulldog softball game at the same time by not having to switch sites but by just scrolling down on my feed.

This customization is the beauty of Twitter, which makes it so much different from going to a straight news site for the latest happenings in the world. When I go to ESPN, I don’t care about what the New York Yankees are doing, or what injury has happened to the Chicago Bulls or the New York Knicks. I want to know how the Milwaukee Brewers are doing, how my 49ers are doing and how great Dwayne Wade is for the Miami Heat.

With all of this news, I am still able to keep tabs on what my friends on the social network are up to. I think this will become even more valuable after I graduate from college and get a job as I will be able to follow what the people I spent my undergraduate career with. I hope that some of my friends from high school will also hop on Twitter, as it is becoming a bigger news source for me in comparison to Facebook. Twitter allows me to shift through the noise or news I don’t care about to get the news that I care about, which makes my time on Twitter more efficient.

In fact, I can thank the Drake Relays for how I got into the athletic communications field. During my first Drake Relays in 2009, I covered the event for the Drake student newspaper The Times Delphic. I spent a lot of time in the media mixed zone getting to know a few others in the athletic communications business which inspired me to pursue a job at Drake when it opened up. My love for track and field also developed at the Relays and the other track meets that Drake has hosted.

The Relays have also allowed me to have the opportunity to shine and hold roles that at many other places a student wouldn’t have. I was in charge of constructing the media supplement which took a lot of time and work, but is something that I am very proud of. This past weekend, I served as the press box coordinator for the 103rd running of the Relays. For those that wonder what that actually means, I was in charge of the press box volunteers and made sure that media members in attendance were content. This meant a lot of training volunteers with how to be a good press box runner, unjamming the copying machine, making sure the wireless network worked and that the press and volunteers got a box lunch. I also helped with the notes for the Relays, writing the recaps, covering the Drake track and field athletes and finding out the weather conditions at the stadium.

This opportunity is something that I have been very grateful for during my time at Drake. While others might complain about having to wake up at 5:45 in the morning to make it to the track by 6:30, I’ve seen it as a chance to help prepare for the real world, which awaits me in a few weeks. As I prepare to graduate from Drake, I will join the thought of many of my fellow seniors that the Drake Relays will be our favorite memory. However, my memory will be having the opportunity to work one of the best track meets in the world which hopefully will prepare for my life after college.

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With that said, I’m in shock that the 103 edition of the Drake Relays are less than a week away.  Every year it seems like they have just crept up on me, and this year has been no different. However, I am very excited for this year’s edition as I hope to make my last Relays as an undergrad memorable. Every year at the Drake Relays I end up doing a different task, as my freshman year I covered it for the student newspaper, my sophomore year I helped out in the media mixed zone and last year I helped with the press box operations. This year, I am in charge of the media supplement and will help with the notes during the event, along with helping the media out in the press box. These tasks are in addition of covering all of the Drake track and field athletes that will compete in front of a home crowd.

Sometimes I wish that I had a Paul Revere to give me the heads up that the Relays are right around the corner, but seeing that they are next week, I know its go time.  This will probably be my last post until after Relays, so my next blog will most likely be about the 103rd running of the Drake Relays after the event.

Last night’s NCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball Championship marked the end to a 34 day stretch of great college basketball. College basketball is probably one of my favorite sports to cover, watch and spectate. I’ve had the chance to watch some great games in person including Arch Madness, the second and third rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in Omaha, Neb. and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Des Moines Regional. I had the chance to see the women’s player of the year (Brittney Griner), the women’s national champion (Baylor), what could be Pat Summitt’s last game coaching and the men’s runner up (Kansas). My only question is where did these past 34 days go? It seems like just yesterday that I was making my way down to St. Louis for Arch Madness.

With that said, I am excited for the upcoming spring events that begin tonight with MLB’s Opening Night. Even though we have had great weather for the past few weeks in Des Moines, it doesn’t feel like spring until the first pitch tonight by Josh Johnson for the Miami Marlins. Another sign of spring is the fact that outdoor track has started, and the Drake Relays are fast approaching. In fact, we are 19 days away from the Beautiful Bulldog Contest that kicks off Relays week. Relays season might be my most hectic time of year, but it is by far one of my favorite events of the season.

This past weekend, I had the chance to once again work at a NCAA Men’s Basketball 2nd/3rd Round site, this time in Omaha, Neb. Originally, I was set to just be a quote-taker, which was something I did last year in Tulsa. It’s not a bad gig, as you get to go into the locker rooms after the games and get quotes from players, which in turn you type up to pass out to the media that’s trying to crank out their game stories. Due to a person missing on the notes-crew, I had the chance to help out digging through the individual team’s notes and looking up statistical oddities and trends to be also handed out to the media folk. This was something that I really enjoyed while being the women’s basketball SID at Drake, and was thrilled I had the opportunity once again to take part in doing notes.

Through this chance, I was able to watch some fantastic basketball (including a pretty big upset), meet some amazing people, and now have the opportunity to work on the notes crew for the women’s basketball tournament This weekend in Des Moines.

In the meantime, here are some pics from the past weekend.

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This weekend has a hard one for me as the women’s squad was at its conference tournament. I thought about going down there with the squad, but with two busy weekends awaiting me, I decided to stay on the sidelines this weekend. Making my choice more difficult was the fact that Drake advanced to the finals on Sunday after entering the tournament as a seven-seed. I had a few opportunities to go down, and in fact was asked to go down midway through the tournament. However, I had to stay on the sideline as I knew it would be the best decision for me in the long run.

All in all, it was hard to watch the Drake women’s basketball team lose to Creighton today, but I was so proud of the squad as they fought adversity to make the final. It was an honor to work such a great program led by Coach Amy Stephens, and I couldn’t be happier for her, her staff and team.