Like everyone else, journalists are using social media to multitask, carry on multiple conversations and be in more place at one time. Of course this ends up meaning they are able to communicate with more potential sources than ever before. The limitations of communication are (almost) removed, creating a hyper-journalism. Kinda like journalism on steroids.

PR pros consider these limitless pathways to communication in a pitching context of course, but it’s nice to know that journalists think of it that way as well. Thanks goes to DC Social Media Examiner Mary Fletcher Jones for capturing this great footage at Twitch! Public Relations in the Age of Social Media, the panel hosted by Mopwater on Thursday evening.  In the clip, Washington Business Journal reporter Jennifer Nycz-Conner discusses how reporting, aided by social media, is akin to cooking on a restaurant range as opposed to on your standard kitchen stove.

[Other #TwitchDC panelists included Jim Long of NBC (@newmediajim), McLean Robbins of Washingtonian Magazine (@deacondoesdc), Jamila Bey of NPR (@jbey), Arthur Delaney of Huffington Post (arthurdelaneyhp) Lindsey Mastis of WUSA9 (lindseymastis)]

You haven’t heard from me in a while because I have been working day and night putting together the very first Mopwater PR + Media Notes Panel, and it promises to be amazing. If you’re in the Washington, DC area, you won’t want to miss it. If you’re not, hopefully we can do some sort of recap for those of you who could not attend.

If you manage the public’s perception of your company or are concerned with increasing your organization’s media exposure in 2010, you will want to attend Twitch! Public Relations in the Age of Social Media. If you are like 80% of PR professionals who participated in the VOCUS fall survey on PR planning for 2010, you will be focusing more on social media this year. And if you are working in the nonprofit world, you probably can relate to the 85% of nonprofit executives polled by Weber Shandwick who say social media will be demanding a larger share of nonprofit spending dollars in 2010. But how do you harness the power of social media to get traditional media coverage? How do you embark upon, what I like to call, “social media relations?”

Find out how at Twitch! This event will feature a panel of working journalists who use social media daily to interact with PR professionals, communicators and the public. Think of this event as a “How to Pitch 2.0 Workshop.” Come with your questions about how to effectively use social media to land traditional media coverage. Learn how journalists are accepting pitches and twitches via twitter and Facebook, what they like and what they hate. Do some networking and  workshop the idea of social media relations.

Twitch! Public Relations in the Age of Social Media
Thursday, Jan 14, 2010
Busboys and Poets Langston Room
2021 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Cost: $20
Note: Space is limited. We can’t accept payment on-site. You must register online through Eventbrite.

Register Online

Panel

Moderator:
Jim Long, NBC Universal / Verge New Media, LLC (@newmediajim)

Panelists:
Jennifer Nycz-Conner, Washington Business Journal (@jenconner)

Lindsey Mastis, WUSA News Channel 9 (@lindseymastis)

Ryan Grim, Huffington Post / Author of “This Is Your Country on Drugs.” (@ryangrim)

Jamila Bey, National Public Radio and WAMU (@jbey)

McLean Robbins, Washingtonian and DC Modern Luxury Magazines (@deacondoesdc)

Organizer:
Amanda Miller Littlejohn, Miller Littlejohn Media Group / Mopwater PR + Media Notes / Author of “The Mopwater PR + Media Notes Manual for a Stellar PR Career” (@amandamogul)

Other fun stuff:

RSVP on LinkedIn

RSVP on Facebook

Join the Mopwater Facebook Fan Page

When referencing the event, before during and after, please use the #TwitchDC hashtag on Twitter.

I recently caught up with Jennifer Nycz-Conner, a features reporter for the Washington Business Journal here in DC. She shared with me her pitching preferences and for the Business Journal; and what makes her love or hate a publicist.  The Washington Business Journal is owned by the American City Business Journals, which also owns 41 other papers. If you’re in business or representing someone who is, you’ll want to take note of these pitching preferences.

Name: Jennifer Nycz-Conner
News Org: Washington Business Journal
Beat: I cover our Business Smarts section, which is a feature section on how to better manage your career and business. I also put together our Back Page, which is our people/events page (yes, I am the post-college version of Party Pix). I also write for our Web site and our Focus sections.

Mopwater: What kind of stories/people/companies are you most interested in covering, and in what context? JNC: I love entrepreneurial stories – the kinds that examine what people are pursuing, what they’re passionate about, and how they’re making it happen. I also love how-to stories – the kinds of things where a reader finishes the article with tips they’re inspired to move on right away.

Mopwater: What’s your idea of a great pitch?
JNC:Short e-mail pitching a company, why it’s interesting, and why our readers would care. No release – just simple facts, why it’s interesting, and not looking for anything more than to share information.

Mopwater: What’s the worst pitch you’ve gotten recently and why? JNC: Looooong releases. Oh, no, worse – I received an e-mail pitching a story on cosmetic surgery procedures. In New York. Not about business. Not local.  Please, please, please read our paper before pitching us. If I have any strong pieces of advice, that’s one of the best I have. Read the full story