Boards & Vines: How Journalists are Utilizing New Social Media Tools

Pinterest, a photo sharing site that allows users to create virtual bulletin boards of pictures and links, was launched in 2010. Since then it has amassed millions of users. How can journalists and publications utilize Pinterest to support their own work and projects? Pretty easily, it turns out. These are some users who are doing things right.

1.) Vogue Magazine: Vogue’s Pinterest page boasts a whopping 59 boards spanning categories like weddings, Spring 2013, and Photography Inspiration. Like most magazine publications, Vogue Magazine pins photos directly from its own website, vogue.com. Pinners are directed to the site every time they click on a link which increases traffic on vogue.com. Likewise, if you are reading an article on vogue.com you find share-worthy, you have the option of pinning it straight from the website. It’s a win-win for both parties. 83,333 people “follow” all of Vogue’s boards on Pinterest. Not too shabby.

“Pinned” from Vogue Magazine’s Photography Inspiration board.

2.) Journalism Tools: This page is managed by a private user, Ezra Eeman, a journalist working in Belgium. Eeman’s boards are all about journalism, the craft, not a specific product. Boards include Story Telling Ideas, Marketing, Resume and Portfolio Help, etc. I personally follow this pinner and have found it helpful to have helpful links organized in such a user-friendly format.

Vine, is a more recent player in the scores of social media apps. launched in recent years. It’s whole shtick is providing 6-second videos across platforms like Twitter. Vine has been criticized by being a lazy man’s excuse for journalism because it lacks any editing and is so short. Can a story truly be told in 6 seconds from a smartphone’s camera? Twitter seems to think so. Last week, the New York City Twitter office celebrated the best in Vine journalism by awarding three finalists for exceptional Vines. It seems that despite the criticism, Vine, like Pinterest is quickly making its way into our journalism tool-bag. If the name of the game is short and sweet, perhaps Vine is exactly what we’ve been waiting for.