ACP Submission: 8A. Social Media Reporting

In Fall 2019, el Don staff created the publication’s first Social Media Team. Together, we created editors for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and used each platform to both report, update and engage with our audience. Below are just a few of the things we did on each platform to keep our community informed.

Instagram

Profile link: http://www.instagram.com/eldonnews

Where to find reporting: Stories (labeled in Highlights and videos below) and feed posts

How we did it: After community listening and research, our staff decided to take the news directly to the students on campus for Fall 2019 — by posting live reporting, news and information daily onto Instagram Stories. These images and videos disappear after 24 hours, but we were able to report and engage with immediacy, reaching an average of 300 people with each Story. The most important information — as well as student-produced photojournalism — was also posted daily to the main Instagram feed, where it lives as part of el Don’s permanent record. Since August 2019, @eldonnews has grown from 400 followers to more than 1300, with engagement and reach more than quintupling.

Facebook

Official page link: https://www.facebook.com/eldonnews

Live videos: https://www.facebook.com/pg/eldonnews/videos/?ref=page_internal

Santa Ana College News Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/544277386112346/

In Fall 2019, the Facebook Team decided to launch a Santa Ana College Facebook group, which would be a place to post relevant info (even not from el Don) and curate conversations around the issues facing our school.

Spring 2020 Chancellor Live Chat Series

After school moved online because of COVID-19, el Don EIC Lesly Guzman hosted standing weekly interviews with District Chancellor Marvin Martinez to update the campus community on how the virus and subsequent shutdowns are impacting school, faculty, staff and students. A call for questions was distributed to

Each Live Chat was simulcast across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Below are a few examples.

https://www.facebook.com/110601228992808/videos/257560398947463/