Embracing the Change: Journalists as Social Media Influencers

EMBRACING
THE CHANGE:
Journalists as Social
Media Influencers
handbook –
basic whys?
and how? to use
social media to
promote quality
journalism

Hello,
Welcome to a short chat about basics of social media use.
We all generally know about social media and that the entire world is now getting hooked on the
trend of using at least one online social platform.
If you think – “Oh, I don’t want to join the club and start using social media” – that’s fine and there are a
lot of journalists thinking the same. But, give this handbook a chance and go through first 3 - 4 pages.
And if you think – “This is way too easy, even a little kid knows how to use social media” – that’s fine
as well, and it is also often true. However, we invite you to give a chance to the last few pages and
think on the topics outlined there.
Social networks are an ever-changing field and this handbook, or at least some parts of it, will not
age well, i.e. they may become ‘outdated’ soon. This is not an attempt to say everything there is
about social media. Only to outline some currently basic and/or key advice on how to make best
use of social networks and reach wider audience. We have picked up these in our desk research, at
a number of conferences and through meetings with a number of influencers. Some parts of the
handbook only touched upon certain topics and offered just a beginning of a wider discussion. So,
please take it as an invitation to start to think about social media as a perfect tool for promoting
what you, as a journalist do, and as a cheat-sheet for those who have just realized that they could
get more readers, viewers and scoops through social networks.
In a challenging political environment, emerging social platforms made communication more
complex and truth not so easy to find. Now that seemingly we all have information at hand, journalists
are doing the most important job in reporting what’s accurate and important and in explaining the
context. And that should be seen, heard and seen by many, leading to better informed citizens.
Social media seems like the most logical choice and appropriate channel. Give it a chance!
P.S. And please let us know what you think by sending us an email to:
southeasteurope@boschalumni.net
The project “Embracing the Change” is taking place within the Bosch Alumni Network, a cooperation between the iac
Berlin and the Robert Bosch Foundation. The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the
project team members.

PART 1:
Current State of Play
Social Media and Journalism
in the Western Balkans
The use of social media is in rise in the Western Balkans, as is in the world, and it is one of the
key parts of media industry and professional journalism in the digital sphere. Key developments
concerning the internet, social media and digital platforms are an important context in which
we should understand journalistic profession nowadays.
Currently, more than five billion people use mobile phones while there are more than four billion
internet users, of which around 3,5 billion use social media, an increase globally of nine percent,
most of them through their phones. Social media and digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Instagram, Weibo and Yandex are among the most visited websites in the world which
points at the habits of people in accessing information online. Social media are for many people the
main source of information, be it about their personal interests like hobbies or staying up to date
with hard news. The presence of a journalist on social media is therefore a necessity.
However, journalists are not always keen on using social media to promote their work as they rather
use them as source of information and sphere of their research. Looking at the Western Balkans,
journalists are in general not using social media to promote quality journalism 1 and they are
reluctant to take advantage of possibilities of advancing their influence through such channels.
The study “Promoting Quality Journalism. Getting Quality Journalism Closer to Audiences on
Social Networks: Journalists as Social Media Influencers”, conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, in 2018 - 2019, showed three important trends:
• Journalists in the Western Balkans lack media literacy to understand current state of
play in wider media environment (including both traditional media and social media) and
lack training in using social networking sites for promotion of their work, both to raise
awareness and to provide them with the tools to achieve better results.
• The culture of individualism underpinning the development of social media influencers
is lacking in these post-communist countries. This incongruence of cultures is further
complicated by issues of journalistic ethical standards, such as not mixing facts with
opinions, and understanding that social media engagement requires both.
• Although social media networks are perceived as free from direct political influence and
control of local political power centers, journalists still do not feel completely free to
use them. They mostly use social media to receive information from sources and getting
information out to the public through social networks, although seen as free, is perceived as
not financially sustainable. Moreover, the lack of media freedom impedes the production of
valuable content, thus journalists who work in politically controlled newsrooms do not feel
proud to share the information they produce. Those who build their social media presence
use it incidentally as a safety net once their content is banned on traditional media.
1 Ana Bogavac Guglielmetti and Elvira Jukic Mujkic (2019), “Promoting Quality Journalism. Getting Quality
Journalism Closer to Audiences on Social Networks: Journalists as Social Media Influencers”, RBS, iac Berlin.

Media freedom, profession and industry in the Western Balkans
Political and economic pressures on the media are one common problem for all Western
Balkans countries. On top of that, verbal and physical attacks on journalists frequently occur in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia and the working conditions for most
journalists are far from ideal. Media ownership is especially worrying issue in all four countries
since murky deals and political influence through the owners affect the financing and thus the
editorial policies of media.
Political divisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are clearly reflected in the media content and their
bias, with many media reporting in line with the interests and narratives promoted by the ruling
parties in different regions. Attacks on journalists who criticize and question the corruption and
divisive nationalist rhetoric often face attacks, while the authorities fail to systematically sanction
and correct such advances on professional journalism by prosecuting the perpetrators.
Media market in Croatia, the only country of these four which is an EU member, is characterized by
strong commercial television providers, a declining print sector and rise of many online websites.
Non-profit media are those who are independent from political influences but at the same time,
they are in a very difficult financial position. Another concern is the media ownership as many media,
which among other protects the interests of owners and their political affiliation, stand opposed to

each other, while independent journalists are seen as “traitors”.
Montenegro stands as the worst rated country among these four when it comes to media freedom,
according to Reporters Without Borders. Self-censorship in a major problem in this country while
defamation lawsuits are being used as a tool to silence those who ask unpleasant questions. Media
scene is divided with the public media widely supporting the ruling party and some private non-profit
media standing on the side of the opposition parties. It is extremely hard for the private media to
survive as the insufficient and politically instrumentalized advertising market in Montenegro.
Under President Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia has become a country where it is often unsafe to be a
journalist. Some of the worrying issues are media ownership and media pluralism, as well as the fact
that many attacks on journalists have not been investigated, solved and punished. There are often
smear campaigns by the pro-government media against the critical and investigative reporters who
mostly work with support of foreign donors. Serbian media market is flooded with tabloids and many
media outlets publish unprofessional and sensationalist content.

PART 2:
Social media as an alternative
for journalists
Current state of play:
Who are the influencers on
social media?
Social media influencer (opinion leader, micro-celebrity, self-brands) is a person who has (an)
account(s) on social media with a significant number of posts (entailing daily or frequent posting
to the account), a significant following, and who shares ‘expertise and knowledge (on a particular
subject) in a manner that can be considered credible. This person can have a large number of
followers, e.g. more than 50,000, or a group of other relevant experts in the field, important members
of community, etc. following his/her account and should be considered to share authentic, genuine
content. Every social network user can assume the optional role and possible position of an influencer
by sharing, liking and commenting on news and thus influence the knowledge and opinions of others.
opinion leaders, micro
influencers, celebrities,
bloggers, gamers
all who address social,
political, economic, cultural,
environmental issues
I n
f
l u e n c e
2
all who have significant
cultural, social, political impact
also active outside of social media,
young or middle-aged people, they
have their own point of view, constantly
active on social media – making sure
their audience doesn’t forget them
Benefits of journalists using social media for promotion of their work
As proven by some of the journalist-influencers interviewed for the research “Promoting Quality
Journalism” as well as those who held a series of webinars “Embracing the Change”, there
are many benefits for journalists when they use social media to promote their work, including
increasing trust of audience in professional journalism, advancing individual positions of
journalists and fighting disinformation.
2 Mapping Digital Influencers, Digital Communicators Network, 2019.

As the Croatian journalist and columnist Tomislav Klauski
explained, reflecting on his experiences in the profession,
times when journalists would come to work, submit an
article and go home, are long behind us. Arguing that
with the change to digital and omni-connected world
of online and social media, he explained how the job of
journalists is to stay connected and communicate with
their audiences. Just as decades ago, when there was no
internet and social networks, journalists had to be in the
streets, communicate with people and tell them about
stories they are writing and publishing, as well as promote
their newspapers and media houses, nowadays besides still doing that, they need to me present
online. Because the audience is on social networks, and that is where journalists should be too.
“Only five years ago in Croatian newsrooms, journalists were getting a weird look when they spent
time on Facebook during their working hours because it was considered they are joking around,
wasting time or their precious productivity. Now being present on Facebook is obligatory to a
journalist in a newsroom. Moreover, even in job calls, one of the main conditions can be activity on
social networks.”
Klauski sees social networks as modern-day plazas and squares where people circulate and gather,
where journalists listen to what they are saying and participate in those conversations, ask questions
and offer their media products. Journalism exists because of audience and it would be, he continues,
pretentious if journalists would distance themselves from the people.
“I cannot just wait for them to get to me. Because – to paint a picture – I did not stand on the Mount
of Olives and now believers are coming to visit me and hear what I say. It is me who needs to come
to them and push my articles under their noses.
Klauski recognizes several ways the presence of professional journalists on social media would help
in fighting disinformation which is causing massive disruptions and harming the online sphere:
• Journalists never stop being journalists, even when they are communicating on social
networks.
• On social media, journalists whose posts and posts the audience likes to comment and
share, can easily become recognizable by their name.
• With their presence, name and surname, or by their newsroom, journalists give people a
kind of security in the information they consume.
• Journalists are thought to be responsible for what they publish and they are likely to treat
social media posts with the same care.
• By promoting quality journalism, journalists can also teach people how to recognize credible
sources of information.
• By participation and recognizability on social networks, journalists stand against fake news.
By getting closer to people, journalists are fueling their
reasons to trust them, pay them, read, click and use them
as important sources of information needed in making
everyday decisions and creating opinions, which is also
precious for democracy of discussion.
By embracing social networks as yet another tool which
can help promote it, journalists can help save professional
journalism, says Nemanja Rujevic, Serbian journalist
working in Germany. Being especially dedicated to his
audience on Twitter, he manages to stay connected and
promote his stories from German media and be involved
in important debates regarding the Serbian media scene.

Rujevic notices that there are many journalists in Germany, as well as in Serbia, who have more
followers on social media than the official pages of media organizations they work for and that can
help both them individually and their newsroom. His experience showed him that when an individual
shares some content, it reaches dozen times more people than the official media house channel.
Taking on the fact that some journalists in the Western Balkans consider promotion of their work on
social networks as a self-promotion which they do not feel comfortable doing, Rujevic noted that
such observations should be double-thought.
He advised that journalists should be part of social networks, of the online community, be active in
debates and sharing relevant content even from other media than the one they work for.
“You did not come to Twitter or Facebook just to state something: you just showed up as an important
person although you don’t follow anything, you don’t respond to anybody, you never join debates, you
cannot stand critiques directed at you.”
“The correct way of doing it would be to join the community, to be a member of it, to follow others
and what they are doing, to occasionally, or daily, share other people’s content even from those
who you may call your competitors. All this refers to the content you find attention-worthy, of public
interest and that as many people should see it. Only then, when you share your content among 50
other tweets saying: ‘People, I think this is important’, then you won’t look as a self-promoter but as
a person working in public interest.”
The logic behind the social network platforms is not simple and is constantly changing, but there
are some ground rules which can help navigate journalists through. The most important ones are to
following in the coming chapters.

PART 3:
Journalists can learn how to
influence
Everyone who has following is a digital influencer – there is only a question of a scale. Journalists
do not have to be media-innovators nor journo-preneurs (journalists entrepreneurs) to be
influencers on social media. In social networks and platforms journalists should be discussion
leaders.
Influence in the capacity to have an effect and the wealth of resources available for the purpose.
Digital influence depends on:
• Capacity to create content
• Skill of distributing the content
• Art of engaging the audience and digital rapport
• Scarcity – you are the unique source of your type of storytelling
• Observability – you are easy to follow and be-friend
It is very important for a journalist to be recognizable in the public by their work and stories they
do. This is if they want for their stories to have an advanced importance and influence. By, in a way,
branding themselves, journalists can be a source to whom people return to get information and
to reveal information about unreported issues. This is not simple, but here are some of the most
important segments of an influencer’s brand:
• Being raw – looking into everyone’s eyes directly
• Being relatable – an ordinary friend
• Being relevant – a well-known individual whose peer opinion is worth listening to
• Being human – create relationships so you can have trust
• Having your own niche – you can only know much about some topics and should stick to them
• Having your own community – engage people to be your commentators, sources, critics,
discussion counterparts, instead just your observers
• Having a relevant reach – being followed by a relevant audience, as bigger following often
means smaller engagement rates
• At least occasionally, tell your audiences what to do and how to do it
Ensuring recognizability and a large online audience, journalists gain their trust and their stories are
shared, commented, and take a new extended life even after they are published by the media they
work for. How to ensure bigger influence of your story:
• Understand that factual reporting is not enough – you have to get your story out and
reach as many people possible
• Have an authority figure onboard – add someone trustworthy to support your story
• Present evidence – have social groups who would improve or mimic what you are saying
• Spread the word about your story through other channels – every little counts
• Be mindful of reciprocity – create sense of obligation to users and/or colleagues to
participate in sharing your story
• Use the power of positive examples – they are easy to memorize and spread

Useful technique:
Code grooming – a technique used in a rhetorical or in an argumentative paper, refers to
adjusting language to appeal to certain groups of people.
• Selecting perfect time for a statement
• Selecting perfect placement for a statement
• Selecting perfect medium for a statement.
GENERAL ADVICE:
• Have a full editorial calendar.
• Optimize profile biographies to increase your visibility.
• Create teasers – announcements, simple posts with some details, countdowns, etc.
• Don’t put all eggs in one basket – have accounts on several platforms.
• Bring audience to every aspect of your story.
• Pick a day and time for your publishing and keep it for consistency.
• Explain your values – explain how you do reporting, provide numbers or atmosphere you get
while investigating and working on your stories.
• You do not only have to create content, but also curate. This is a new form of journalism as
gate-keeping: out of many available information, you select and share the most relevant.
Mastering the different approaches on different platforms
There are numerous social networks and each one of them can be useful if people who are our
audience are present. Different social networks function differently and people tend to behave
differently depending which one are they using. Thus, what is a good practice in promoting
journalist’s stories on one social network might not be the best way to do it with another. Here
are some ground rules for the most used social networks in the Western Balkans.
Facebook
• Share informal photos of you, music, movies, books you like: let people know you, understand
you and relate to you
• Be a friend and talk to people so they can trust you
• Ask audiences what they want to see, what questions they want answered, what topics
explored
• Reply to comments and answer any questions that your followers ask you or at least just “like”
their comments to show your appreciation
• Create video content as a crucial tool for engaging users. Don’t use generic thumbnails for
your videos, but create custom ones with not more than 20% of text on image
• Utilize Facebook live videos as the most engaging type of content of the platform – share your
experiences and thoughts in a way that is most watched by the users
• Stand up for a cause and/or join the trending topic in your unique way
• Use Facebook Insights to track and monitor the performance of your Facebook posts,
measure impact of your content on your reach and engagement rates and to better
understand the demographics of your audience.
Useful app: Spark Video – helps create professional and custom videos. (https://spark.adobe.
com/make/video-maker/)

Twitter
• Shortly explain key elements of the content you are sharing
• Give short intro and provide a link to an article or a video
• Use strong quotes, impressive data, shocking information, but in reasonable manner
• Do not be shy to call something a sensation or an exclusive info, if it really is
• Mention authority figures: interviewees, authors, interlocutors
• Be part of social networks: comment, participate in debates, respond to critiques
• Don’t just show up on social networks to state something
• Follow other users and journalists.
• Share what other journalists publish, if you find it being of public interest
• Share your own articles, videos etc. You do not look as a self-promoter.
Useful app: Spark Photo – helps pick a photo, add text and apply design filters.
(https://spark.adobe.com/)
INSTAGRAM
• Shoot videos with your phone to make it look natural
• Use your face to connect with audience and tell a story
• Tell your story on social media as it develops – take your audience on a journey of your reporting
• Include people who have been impacted
• Use polls, quizzes, questions, to engage your audience
• Include ‘Swipe Up’ slide for a longer story
Instagram Stories
• This is the best way to present information
• Make your stories daily, to stay in users’ newsfeeds
• Let your stories lead to your longer content (swipe up option) – either website or IGTV video.
IGTV
• Content should be more engaging.
Useful app: Snapseed – professional photo editor. (https://play.google.com/store/apps/
details?id=com.niksoftware.snapseed&hl=en)
YouTube
Niche topics to reach most relevant audiences:
• Be very specific in what is your field of interest and scope of work
• Narrow down the focus of your work
• Develop a strategy for your channel
Think: big fish – small pond:
• Create longer videos, several per week
• Create custom, interesting and appealing thumbnails and don’t use generic ones
• Thumbnails can have a lot of text
Make yourself searchable: think of metadata, key words, hashtags:
• Use SEO strategies: key words in title, in description and in metadata
• Write smart descriptions – use conversational style
• Be mindful of importance of bounce rates: you don’t want people finding your video easily and
leaving after a few seconds – deliver what you promise
Useful app: TubeBuddy – browser extension that adds a layer of tools to your YouTube website.
(https://www.tubebuddy.com/)

PODCAST
• Ensure technical quality is high: excellent quality of sound is key
• Be consistent: both in terms of timing of publishing your podcast and type of your content
• Think in 10-20 episodes: plan ahead, draft the content and record much in advance
• Optimal time length of your podcast in range of 35-45 minutes (25 minutes is a minimum
length of an episode)
Useful app: Anchor – all-in-one platform where you can create, distribute, and monetize your
podcast from any device, for free.
OTHER NETWORKS to use, pending on your field of interest, type of
reporting and intended audience:
• LinkedIn
• Viber
• WhatsApp
• Snapchat
• Telegram
How algorithms work on different platforms
Becoming a Social Media Influencer is a process which takes time, but is worth working on
especially as more influential accounts and profiles are those with smaller, niche audience.
There’s no handbook on how to choose content or when to post. However, there are some
general rules that each social network has when it comes to frequency and scheduled time of
your posting. These are called algorithms.
Algorithm is a set of mathematical rules created for a platform to maintain order in how data
behaves, i.e. it assists in sorting information on newsfeed, search ranking and advertisement visibility
– it controls the information we see and so it dictates where you rank in social media.
Algorithms are different for each social media platform, but they all work by the same main
principles:
• judging which content to show based on the quality of content, user’s history of interaction and
interests
• focusing on encouraging social media users to post high-quality content, which is relevant and
engaging other users
• regularity and consistency of time of posting is necessary.
According to some studies the highest engagement rates for most platforms is during the late
morning and afternoon hours midweek.
Facebook Algorithm:
• It favors meaningful users’ engagement – it favors close friends’ posts which create interactions,
more reactions, comments and replies – conversations (it ranks higher posts with longer
comments) between users over business pages content
• Even paid content depends on users’ engagement, although it is ranked separately
• Live videos and videos with lots of interactions rank higher
• However, it downranks posts inviting users to like and share
• It downranks links to external websites, as it favors native content
• It downranks clickbait and sensationalist content

• Content that has been shared as a link over Messenger ranks higher
• Facebook is also moving to using ‘Stories’ as a tool to place your content at the top of newsfeed
• It calculates credibility of the user and ranks higher pages which are detailed and complete,
with history of shared posts
Twitter Algorithm:
• Timing is most important for Twitter rankings: it ranks higher fresh and updated material than
old ones, especially if it gets engagement right after being posted
• Twitter offers two different sections for users: algorithmic selection and ranking of: recent
tweets and older but relevant tweets; and chronological ranking of remaining tweets in reverse
chronological order
• It ranks higher tweets that use all 280 characters, as longer tweets get more engagement
• It ranks higher tweets with higher number of comments and higher engagement rates
• Twitter users see more content from people they have engaged with in the past or have at
least been reading their tweets
• It ranks higher profiles that are interacting with their followers and that are part of the
community
• It ranks higher credible users, who have filled out all biographical information
• Tweet every day, even multiple times, but not too frequently, as the algorithm may recognize
you as a bot
Instagram Algorithm:
• Most important factors in algorithm’s calculations: user’s interest, timeliness and user’s
relationship – it assumes that a user tends to comment and like frequently friend’s posts
• It favors content users engage with, so it can show posts that are days old
• It shows as many ads as possible – it is a platform for advertising
• It favors the more time users spend looking at a post and it ranks it higher
• It favors as more credible accounts that users interact with and that interacts with users
• It ranks higher accounts that post regularly and does not downrank for posting too much
• It ranks higher posts shared via direct messages
• It will show posts in chorological order to users who open the app frequently and scroll much,
otherwise it will show the most relevant content
• Hashtags are useful for placement in newsfeed and in Explorers page – they make it easier for
people to find you
YouTube Algorithm:
• It favors higher number of your subscribers
• It favors higher number of views on your videos
• It favors higher number of likes/dislikes and comments on your videos
• It favors videos with clear and consistent title, description and keyword tags
• It favors videos that are 7-16 mins long or longer videos

GENERAL ADVICE:
How to protect your digital influence
• Integrity – be honest
• Diligence – stay committed to verifying info
• Authenticity – don’t follow trends and remain original
• Openness – have real conversations
In the future, influence will rely on:
• Problem solving
• Humor
• Education
• Inspiration
• Philanthropy
• Heroes
• Visionars
• Building communities instead of creating for
audiences

PART 4:
Respecting journalistic
standards and ethics on social
media – drawing “red lines”
Do not give up any of traditional journalistic values when using social
publishing!
Think of using social media as a tool in supporting your initial goal – sharing an information that is
of public interest.
• Goals: transparency, authenticity and overall better connection with audiences, their interest and trust.
Tell your boss, media owner or editor-in-chief about your social media
activities!
Use Opportunities:
• To report: engage with real people; vetting and double-checking information you find on social
media
• To promote and build your brand: promote what you do and who you are
• To reach more people and connect with new generations: make best use of each platform
• To communicate directly with audience: they can correct you if you are wrong or add if you are
missing something
• To dispel myths: react quickly!
GENERAL ADVICE:
Things to think twice about each time before posting/tweeting:
• Does that content serve your reporting/publishing aim?
• Does it influence in any way your journalistic work?
• Does it clarify or bring confusion and can it be misinterpreted?
• Does it look same now and in several years from now?
• Does it help you do your job in the future?
• Does it reach the right audience?
• Does the platform (and not your media outlet or your brand) get the entire story for free?
Social media are focused on personal opinions. Journalists don’t necessarily share their opinion
with other users, they don’t pick sides. They share their emotions and atmosphere of their reporting
showing that they are humans.
Check your social media posts for:
• Contributing to or damaging your (self)brand
• Hindering your safety (online or real-life safety)
• Attracting your audience and specifying type of users that follow you
• Deepening trust in you
• Promoting segments, details, clarifications, backgrounds of your story that will not end up being
published in your original text or video
• Promoting your values and contributes to overall image of you

PART 5:
Who does it better?
There are just a few media houses in the Western Balkans which have a strategy and/or a rulebook
for use of social media, intended for their journalists and other employees. Many of them are laying
out basic rules of good conduct such as restraining oneself from insults or stating hard bias to
certain topics.
However, traditional media outlets play an important role in helping journalists become social media
influencers. It is the support of the newsroom that is highly important in progress of any individual
journalist to becoming recognizable and influential on social networks.
House rules: Western media and social networks
Some of the top Western media houses, as well as their journalists, have long recognized the
importance of social networks and embraced their possibilities to advance their journalism and
spread their work.
In BBC’s social media guidance 3 , a framework is set out for employers advising them about their
own personal activities, done with friends and contacts, but not under the name of the media
they work for. It is said that there are particular considerations to bear in mind, such as: “Don’t do
anything stupid” and “remember that even though you are acting in your own personal capacity,
you are on show to your friends and anyone else who sees what you write, as a representative of the
BBC”. Furthermore, the advices go by saying that one should make clear their views expressed are
personal, but that even in that case employees should not state their political preferences or say
anything that compromises their impartiality. “Don’t sound off about things in an openly partisan
way. Don’t be seduced by the informality of social media into bringing the BBC into disrepute. Don’t
criticize your colleagues.”
The Associated Press encourages their journalists to have accounts on social networks. In their
social media guidelines 4 , it says that social networks have become essential tool for reporters to
gather news but also to share their work. “We recommend having one account per network that
you use both personally and professionally. Many AP journalists have had great success with this
strategy.” The organization also asks that journalists do not state their political views on social
media and that they must not take part in organized action in support of causes or movements. It is
advised that staffers refrain from spreading unconfirmed rumors online, and from commenting on
the work of their media outlet. They are welcomed to share the content.
WarnerMedia to which CNN belongs, states in their guidelines on journalistic integrity 5 that whether
on television or online, their journalists abide by high standards of ethics they are expected to be
fair and honest and to confirm the facts before online articles or TV segments are released to the
public.
3 BBC (2011). News: Social media guidance. Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/
pdfs/14_07_11_news_social_media_guidance.pdf
4 Social Media Guidelines for AP Employees (2013). Associated Press. Available from: https://www.
ap.org/assets/documents/social-media-guidelines_tcm28-9832.pdf
5 WarnerMedia (2016). Journalistic IntegrityAvailable from: https://www.warnermediagroup.com/
company/corporate-responsibility/telling-the-worlds-stories/journalistic-integrity

House rules: In the Balkans
Some newsrooms from the Western Balkan countries do have guidelines for their staff regarding the
use of social media, but to the best of our knowledge they keep them for internal use. Some which
we had insight into refer to similar issues as those presented from AP of BBC. They include parts
which are advising their employees to be aware of the publicity of what they regardless of the privacy
settings, and that they should make sure they emphasize posts represent their own views. Also, it is
advised that journalists should make sure that what they are sharing on their personal accounts is
still verified information and that they should also be careful of not endorsing any politician or take
sides in certain situations that might damage their reporting or that of their media outlet. Some
general recommendations, in one of the guidelines of a Western Balkan media, are that journalists
on social media should respect the usual principles of ethical and professional journalism such as to
be accurate, fair, literate, pay attention to hate speech and be polite to commentators.

PART 6:
What would editors do?
Where is the support to journalists
– social media influencers?
Editors and managers of newsrooms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia
confirmed that the newsrooms rely heavily on promotion of their content on social media, as that
generates new audiences. In a survey conducted within the “Embracing the Change” project, editors
and media managers have said that social media are being used regularly, some of them coloring
it by saying that those are “the newsstands of the 21st century”. Many have said that they post on
social networks of their media outlets themselves while some said that they have a staff member
whose job it is to work on social media visibility.
That said, however, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia most newsrooms
do not have social media guidelines for their staff, as majority of survey responses were that “there
are unwritten ground rules” and or that it is “not regulated”, while some said there are guidelines.
Additionally, majority of responses point to the fact that they expect their staff to share their stories
as they consider it as helpful for the reach. One editor said she told the staff that promotion is
important and that they “should learn how to promote their content on networks, regardless of
whether that is the content of our media outlet or some other they might work for. I don’t check how
much someone publishes nor I force them to, it is all solely a matter of good will.”
As much as they emphasized the importance of social media, when asked whether their media
outlet management/editorial board ever offered or provided financial incentives for journalists
to promote their stories on social media, majority said no. Some said that it would be useful if
journalists promoted their stories on social media, but that they do not expect them to do that and
that there are no investments in education in this sense. Another editor said that journalists are not
instructed but that they are encouraged to promote stories on social media since it is more organic
than advertising and that people can relate more easily if they see an author talking about their
story. When asked to say whether the newsroom ever acted regarding a post on social media by
some of their journalists, many did not comment. Several had some examples such as:
• The newsroom would not support extremist views and have warned some of the journalists
about that in the past
• One editor said he did not act over a journalist’s post on social media but added that there
was a certain amount of self-censorship
• Another said that there were a couple of posts by journalists which were not in line with their
general stands of the media house, so management talked with journalists to explain to
them that they are also representing the media and not just themselves
Asked whether journalist should freely comment on their personal social media accounts in
addition, or contrary to, the story they reported with the media outlet, editors and media managers
mainly say yes, and here are some interesting considerations:
• Journalists are people and we all know they have personal opinions – achieving total
objectivity is impossible, and some editors would actually want to know journalists’ biases
• Journalists should not comment on their work, public should
• It is not professional, comment is subjective
• There should be boundaries of good taste, public perception and professional rules

• Its more organic and better way for a story to have a bigger reach. Readers like to see what
authors think and how they did a story
• By discussing their work, journalists can inspire others to comment and, in that way, get
feedback from the readers
• Journalists could be encouraged to promote content on social media, perhaps with fees
• Who else can “defend” their work better on social media than the author themselves
• Whatever the journalist had to say, it was already said in the article
• Journalists and editors should respond only to constructive criticism and reasonable
suggestions, but not to insults nor praises
• Journalists of specialized niche media should communicate with their audience, but in
mainstream news media and tabloids it would take too much time and serve no good
Majority of responses said that there should not be financial investments by media houses in private
profiles of journalists on social networks – some explained that due to lack of funds but others said
that it should be done by individuals. However, asked whether journalists should be social media
influencers, editors and media managers mainly said yes.
Those is support of journalists becoming influential on social networks commented, among other,
like this:
• Yes, because they are informed and analytical and they understand what is happening
• It is a tricky question. Those who are real professional journalists – yes, they should, but
those who serve someone or are radical – not at all!
• Journalists should be influential but also careful not to impose their own opinion on the
others. However, it can get complicated, since social media influencers are not taken
seriously and that can lead to re-questioning of a journalist’s work
• I would leave it to individual decision. Any journalist should give it a try if they feel like it.
However, for many journalists it is hard to comment and publish even after worktime
• Yes, sure – we already do it in our stories and TV and on radio as commentators, why not
on social media but there has to be a line, it’s a delicate thing but can be done. Journalists
should use their position to influence general audience, to explain and give context to events
Some of the comments against or in doubt of this idea were:
• I think it is not their business to be that – journalists should not be judged by the number
of followers and likes they have on social media (if it is organic, then I am not against it)
• To the extent they can mediate stands from the articles in a positive and objective way,
journalists should have the influence, but unfortunately that influence is often misused
• If they think they are participating in politics that way then they are sliding into political
PR, but if they are using social networks to pressure the politics to respect human rights,
then the social media influence is justified
• Social media enabled anyone to be a “journalist”. We should all work to make the news
which appear on social media become more accurate and more reliable and only “qualified
journalists” should share them.
• Some editors noted that journalists should not promote their stories on their private
social media accounts as “media packages are not produced for personal use”.
There were in deed opposing views regarding the use of social media, but the majority agreed it is a
very important segment of journalism and media today and that it is not exploited and used enough.
However, journalists who have made the most of their profession tend to listen to the audience and
exchange views and information with the people, and that has helped them to follow stories and
provide the right context.

Social media has provided an invaluable access of journalists to their audiences, brought them to
sources of information for their stories and a place for research but also an excellent opportunity to
receive feedback, suggestions and criticism which can help them do better as professionals. Many
journalists in the world are dedicated to building their own brands and in that way secure more
independence and opportunities for themselves, but the overall idea is still not widely discussed
among journalists and editors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.
General recommendations
Influencer gets bigger following by being promoted in traditional media
Traditional media stories reach more audiences after being promoted by an influencer.
Media outlets should feature their journalists/reporters on the media outlet’s social media
platforms to help them grow their following and influence.
Newsrooms should provide training for journalists influencers;
Training, standards as well as financial incentives should be offered by media outlets as
relying on personal initiative has proven insufficient.
Offering monetization opportunities by the biggest tech companies and owners of social
networks, even small incentives in small markets, would be of great significance for
journalists’ social media presence and ultimately independence.
Thank you!