By Jake Batsell, Southern Methodist University

The Destination Web is losing ground to the Social Web. Fewer people are using home pages and bookmarks to find their news on the Web – instead, news finds them through shared links on Facebook, link-shortened URLs on Twitter, or “like” buttons on scores of social media sites. For the modern journalist, that prized front-page clip or lead story on the 10 p.m. news may escape the notice of the growing legions of readers who get their news primarily online.

So, how can journalism students make sure their work gets noticed on the Web? By mastering the art of the “push post.” I require my Digital Journalism students to push news stories out on social media sites or comment forums once per week, which counts for 10 percent of their overall grade. With each push post, students build their personal brands by promoting their own journalistic work or that of their classmates. [Read more...]