Social media tools | Science Journalism Training in Australia | in Australia

Social media tools

Research tools

Muck Rack	Muck Rack is an online tool that curates the Twitter feeds of journalists and publications to facilitate the monitoring of current news trends. In live time, it tracks these professionals, extracts their Twitter material and organizes it on a multi-use interface. In addition to its targeted journalist and news directories, it enables media professionals to create and customise a publicly accessible social profile, allowing them, too, to be tracked. Special feature: Lists and profile for tracking; Multiple social media.
Bottlenose	Bottlenose is a dashboard that filters social media content according to the user’s preferences. It makes the content easy to access and navigate, particularly between trends that relate to specific topics, people etc. The popularity and relationships between issues can be accessed at the tip of a finger and thus inform the journalist of the trending topics and hashtags. Special feature: Sonar showing links between trends across multiple social media.
Trendsmap	Trendsmap is a social-media tool that maps Twitter trends from across the world in real-time, combining Twitter Trends, Google Maps and What the Trend . 21st Century media professionals can use Twitter as a way to engage with and report on particular communities worldwide. In this way, media professionals can see what is being said and by whom as news breaks, allowing them to pitch their stories in correspondence with public reaction, as well as determining what hashtags to include in order to project their contributions to the widest possible audience. Special features: Linking Twitter trends and locations.
Topsy	Topsy is a real time search engine that utilises data from Twitter to find the most talked about information. By combining both trend data and sentiment analysis, Topsy can determine the most credible sources of information on any given topic, and can also be used as a trend comparison tool. Topsy also has a full archive of all past tweets. Special feature: Trend comparison; Historical research.
Tweet archivist	Tweet archivist is a tool that follows low trending topics over a long period of time as opposed to a high trending topic over a short period. It allows you to search a subject and it will generate an archive of tweets on that subject and it is up to the user if they want to share it publicly or privately. This is a highly effective tool for the 21^st century media professional in theory for so many different reasons, mainly the fact that a certain ‘trend’ can be searched and it’s presented in a fashion that can be used as a viable source for things like presenting graphs and statistics. Special feature: Historical overview of tweets.
TweetReach	TweetReach is a social analytics tool online that measures Twitter campaigns, providing detailed metrics regarding the number of people who see a tweet, and who those people are. This tool essentially provides 21C media professionals with the ability to gauge how far Tweets travel. Special feature: Analytics.
Hootsuite	Hootsuite is an online dashboard that allows users to manage their accounts for many social networking tools at once. Its main functions include streaming and scheduling communications, and analyzing their impact. Special feature: Multiple social media posting and tracking. Multiple users for one account.
News360	News360 is a personalized newsreader web application (also an app), which uses semantic analysis to derive content from multiple news outlets, sources from Twitter, Facebook, RSS and other feeds to deliver news according to users interest in an organized and aggregate form. Special feature: Comparing the same story from multiple outlets.
Twilert	Twilert is an online Twitter-based tool that enables users to receive regular email updates of Tweets containing mentions of a specific brand, product or keyword. The tool aids 21^st Century media professionals in researching a particular breaking news story by monitoring and gathering Tweets of relevance to a particular search term. This Twitter-based tool is unique in that, while many tools act as monitoring and notification systems, Twilert enables users to configure search and alert options to suit their needs, such as the frequency of alerts and the location to be monitored for Tweets. Special feature: customisable email alerts about tweets on a particular topic.

Production tools

Storify	Storify is a website that allows users to tell a story by embedding material from social media platforms together into one narrative stream. The tool allows 21^st Century media professionals to bring the best elements of a story as conveyed by the social media world, as they actually appear in their native format and with attributions, into one story, or one Storify. Can also be used as an aggregating research tool. Combines research and production into one tool. Special feature: Native format of social media materials, links back and attributions to original authors.
Twitpic	Twitpic is a photo sharing service that allows Twitter users to post photos from a variety of platforms. This includes one’s phone, Twitpic’s application programming interface (API) or through the site itself. Special feature: Photo posting to Twitter.
Timeline JS	TimelineJS is a web tool that allows the 21^st century media professional to curate media from different sources to create an interactive timeline. Currently, it can support content from Twitter, Flickr, Google Maps, YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Wikipedia and SoundCloud. TimelineJS is a useful tool that offers a way to present information in a chronological order that is both interactive and visually appealing. It is a great presentation tool for media professionals that can help with the task of gaining and holding onto the attention of an audience. Special feature: Timeline.

Publicity tools

Hootsuite	Hootsuite is an online dashboard that allows users to manage their accounts for many social networking tools at once. Its main functions include streaming and scheduling communications, and analyzing their impact. Special feature: Multiple social media posting and tracking. Multiple users for one account.
Muck Rack	Muck Rack is an online tool that curates the Twitter feeds of journalists and publications to facilitate the monitoring of current news trends. In live time, it tracks these professionals, extracts their Twitter material and organizes it on a multi-use interface. In addition to its targeted journalist and news directories, it enables media professionals to create and customise a publicly accessible social profile, allowing them, too, to be tracked. Special feature: Lists and profile for tracking.
Bottlenose	Bottlenose is a dashboard that filters social media content according to the user’s preferences. It makes the content easy to access and navigate, particularly between trends that relate to specific topics, people etc. The popularity and relationships between issues can be accessed at the tip of a finger and thus inform the journalist of the trending topics and hashtags. Special feature: Sonar showing links between trends.
Trendsmap	Trendsmap is a social-media tool that maps Twitter trends from across the world in real-time, combining Twitter Trends, Google Maps and What the Trend . 21st Century media professionals can use Twitter as a way to engage with and report on particular communities worldwide. In this way, media professionals can see what is being said and by whom as news breaks, allowing them to pitch their stories in correspondence with public reaction, as well as determining what hashtags to include in order to project their contributions to the widest possible audience. Special features: Linking trends and locations.