el don 2020-2021 Social Media Reporting Entry
8A. Social Media Reporting
Coverage using social media platforms for reporting, updating and engaging with the collegiate community. Collect all social media examples using an online content curation tool or by capturing screen shots with links to create a portfolio.
Election 2020
For over a month in the fall semester, el Don staff collaborated across multiple social media platforms to inform and engage with the collegiate community about the 2020 elections. After conducting Info Needs Assessments earlier in the semester, we discovered that Instagram and Twitter are main sources of information for our audience so we focused our dedicated efforts on pushing reporting through those platforms.
To the right 👉is a video compiling all of our Instagram Stories posted over the course of two weeks, from one week before the election to the week after. Using Instagram tools such as polls, questions and replies, you can see how social media editors were able to create a community of sharing that allowed them to report, update and engage their audience throughout the election.
See below for all other election social media posts, listed in chronological order.
Thank you for your consideration!
—el Don staff
The Month Before: October 1
el Don news editor took a photo of her mail-in ballot and posted it on Instagram along with information about registering to vote and submitting your ballot before election day.
The Week Before: Oct. 30
Broadcast journalism student Kim Garcia included information about the election in her weekly standup, which was posted on Twitter, Instagram feed and on IGTV. The video posts combined reached over 1,000 accounts.
It’s 5 p.m. on Friday, October 30. Here’s what’s going on: pic.twitter.com/UJSVtYzRCB
— el Don Newspaper (@eldonnews) October 31, 2020
On Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3
el Don news editor Carrie Graham walked through the voting center on our campus and created a tweet thread showing
(click to expand)
🇺🇸 Planning to vote at Santa Ana College?🇺🇸
— el Don Newspaper (@eldonnews) November 3, 2020
Here’s how to get inside:
el Don multimedia editors used a Google Voice number to take texts and calls directly from readers on election night. They received multiple messages asking about results, to which editors replied with links and information.
el Don news was one of the first to publish the official OC Registrar results about The post below received about 300 likes, over 150 shares and was bookmarked 20 times, more than any IG post during the election season.
The Aftermath: Wednesday, November 5
Take a deep breath… and register for tomorrow’s webinar to talk about #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/cDrXsSmQtD
— el Don Newspaper (@eldonnews) November 4, 2020
Staff shared election results and crowdsourced student opinions in the days after election day:
- Staff picks: our favorite songs through the past century - April 3, 2024
- 25. Best Social Media Reporting - December 15, 2023
- UCI cancels guaranteed admission - November 14, 2023