Social Networking Classes Oct. 28-29; $20 Each

October 04, 2010

Classes on social networking will be offered Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 28 and 29. Each class is one hour. Sign up for one or as many as fits your schedule.

The fee is $20 per class for NPC members and $30 per class for non-members. The classes are in the Bloomberg Center for Electronic Journalism next to the library.

Oct. 28:

9:30 to 10:30 a.m. - Web 2.0 Tools

11 a.m. to Noon - Google Search Tips

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. - Twitter

3 to 4 p.m. - Reporting from Facebook

Oct. 29:

9:30 to 10:30 am - Basics of Blogging

11 to Noon - Foursquare and Location-based Tools

Register at http://bit.ly/6f1yyA or by contacting Beth Shankle at [email protected] or 202-662-7509. Participants are welcome to bring their own laptops for any of the sessions, but computers will also be provided.

The Google Search Techniques class will help users refine search results from millions of hits to a handful of targeted sites. Google's specialized search services, including News, Scholar and Books, and scenarios where those services can be more useful than a traditional search are also examined.

Web 2.0 Tools will explore what these resources are and how they can be used to help manage everything from the news you read to the way you contact people. Resources covered include Delicious, Flickr, Wikis, Chrome, Meebo, Firefox Plugins, iCal, YouTube, Skype and Digg.

Twittering Away is a class for those who are interested in twittering during big events or for any other purpose. We will discuss what Twitter is and how it can be used by journalists. Participants can set up their own accounts, connect their accounts with their cell phones and Facebook pages, and (if they have administrative access) add a twitter badge to their website or blog. Twitter is a micro-blogging service where users can post brief updates and respond to the updates of others. Ways journalists can use Twitter include communicating with each other and their audiences, researching stories, contacting sources and driving traffic to their websites.

Reporting from Facebook will examine what online social networks are and the differences among several of the most popular sites, including Facebook and LinkedIn. The class includes an in-depth look at Facebook -- navigating the site, using it to research stories, using it to identify and contact sources and using it to connect with your audience.

In Basics of Blogging, participants will set up a blog using Blogger and learn how to format their posts, add videos and pictures, easily include ads, and monitor the blog statistics using FeedBurner. The class is limited to 15 people.

The Foursquare and Location-based Tools class will discuss what location-based tools such as Foursquare and Facebook Places are and how they work, how they can be used
to gather information, identify sources, and promote yourself or your organization.

The classes are underwritten by a $50,000 grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

-- Beth Shankle, [email protected]