Adrienne Erin writes that the popular photo-sharing service can be a valuable promotional tool for writers, who can post photos of everything from their most recent vacations to their newest book covers: "Instagram is one of the best social apps you can use as an author, because not only does it give us a rest from all those words, but it can be used in so many ways — personally or professionally. You just have start thinking less in words and more in pictures."
Science writing news
Sarah Marshall writes about what she learned in two-and-a-half years at a small British website reporting on innovation in the digital news industry. The main lessons: Focus on originality, share widely, and keep redefining what works: "As a small team (of two or three journalists and two or three marketing and sales staff), we had to be efficient. If something didn’t get the expected traffic or impact, we would reconsider. We were constantly listening, learning, evolving."
Two new studies reach contrasting conclusions on stress and social media. First, the Pew Internet Research Project surveyed 1,801 people and found that "frequent internet and social media users do not have higher levels of stress." But then the Edelman PR firm found that "75 percent of journalists say they feel more pressure now to think about their story’s potential to get shared on social platforms." More from Poynter.
Poynter's Butch Ward recounts his six-month transition from a newspaper job to a health insurance company. His advice to others on the job search: Just ask for help. "While many job seekers might hesitate to call people who help run universities, sports franchises, big companies and other organizations, journalists routinely seek interviews with people in positions of power and influence. It impressed me how many of those people said yes, I’d be happy to talk with you."
How often have you seen a story about the nation’s most stressed zip codes, as gauged by a real estate web site? Or which city's residents have the most rat complaints, according to a pest control company? Jacob Harris thinks reporters should be more skeptical of these reports and the motives of their sponsors: "The problem, though, is that these stories are not reported with the same rigor traditional journalism is … Sometimes, it’ll be true, but often it’s misleading."
Matt Tullis's students at a mid-sized liberal arts university with religious roots got their eyes opened when Esquire's Mike Sager — one of 14 writers who talked to their class — dropped a few f-bombs, but Tullis writes that it's all good: "I wanted my students to feel uncomfortable, because that’s what good narrative journalism does to you. It takes you to a place you haven’t been and wouldn’t necessarily go, and it does that for the reporter as well as the reader."
Tabitha M. Powledge reviews coverage of the "bad luck" cancer paper and places blame on the scientists for using those words: "They introduced the term in the abstract, guaranteeing that 'bad luck' would be part of how the paper was explained to others. The authors defined the term precisely enough, but of course their definition — 'random mutations arising during DNA replication in normal, noncancerous stem cells' — isn’t what the rest of the world means by 'bad luck.'"
Ann Beattie writes at night. Hemingway started at daybreak. Balzac started even earlier, at 1 a.m., which may explain his drinking 50 cups of coffee per day. These and other work habits of famous writers are quoted by Jack Limpert from Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, in which author Mason Currey "researched or asked lots of writers how they dealt with the procrastination muse and many talked about how they prepared themselves to write."
Maria Konnikova writes about an Australian psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist who studies how a headline's wording influences — for better or worse — what a reader remembers from a story: "By drawing attention to certain details or facts, a headline can affect what existing knowledge is activated in your head. By its choice of phrasing, a headline can influence your mindset as you read so that you later recall details that coincide with what you were expecting."