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gonna get up on my soap box for a sec
i was on a mentoring call with a student about to graduate college and she told me that a member of a fairly popular journalism organization gave her some discouraging advice. this person told her to not go into audience work
gonna get up on my soap box for a seci was on a mentoring call with a student about to graduate college and she told me that a member of a fairly popular journalism organization gave her some discouraging advice. this person told her to not go into audience work
she was told that she'd be better off working in a reporter role covering a political committee, even if no one read her work. i was shocked! these archaic views of a journalist's career path need to be dispelled
if you want to be a reporter, that's great and you should absolutely do that! but this student told me her skills and passions fell mostly in the audience/social sector, as well as politics. she was being made to feel that there wasn't opportunity or success in the audience world
i told her that in my experience, there is plenty of opportunity in realms of social and audience. audience is so vital to digital media right now, more than ever i might argue!
even with her interest in politics — someone needs to be there to live tweet SOTU, press conferences, important floor votes. when we are still in the middle of a presidency that has involved twitter so heavily, you're really going to tell someone that social isn't important?!?
in audience, you learn things like how to...
- source info thru social listening tools
- package stories with effective thumbs + heds
- design catching graphics for social
- write clear, concise copy for push notifs
- decipher data + analytics
- pitch stories that will resonate
- source info thru social listening tools
- package stories with effective thumbs + heds
- design catching graphics for social
- write clear, concise copy for push notifs
- decipher data + analytics
- pitch stories that will resonate
these are ALL important skills that make you a better journalist 
they may make you a great reporter someday, they may make you a great EIC someday, they may make you a great head of audience someday! wherever it takes you, there is undoubtedly value in this skillset
this type of work opens so many doors. it certainly has for me and many of my peers that i've seen move into different fields of interest. you can pursue tech, product, production, commerce (like me!) or even pivot to reporting. it makes you an incredibly well-rounded journalist
so yeah, audience work 
is important and a valid career path
if you're someone in the industry, please think about this if you're giving advice to students!! there are certainly pro + cons to different career paths, but audience should NOT be counted out
is important and a valid career path if you're someone in the industry, please think about this if you're giving advice to students!! there are certainly pro + cons to different career paths, but audience should NOT be counted out
