By Murtala Mohamed Kamara
๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ซ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐๐ฒ; ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ข๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฌ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฐ๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ฒ๐ฌ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ข๐ณ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ญ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ก๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ข๐๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐๐๐ก๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐๐๐ญ, ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฌ. ๐๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐.
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Websites are very important, you cannot publish a newspaper in this digital era without having a website. If you want to attract more readers, this is the way to go. Websites allow you to publish texts, images, videos and audio. It also allows you to report the news in real-time and get instant feedback from your readers. Some publishers are of the notion that newspapers are not in the business of publishing videos or audios or creating video contents. Well, this was the case a decade ago, but it has changed. It is one thing to have a website and another to have great content that will keep readers coming back to your website. Newspapers should consider creating good content because content is the key.
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This social media platform has 2.94 billion monthly active users and 1.96 billion users that are visiting the site daily. Who would want to miss out on this number of people? If you want to stay in business in this digital era, you must find a way to take your content to your readers and one platform that you can use to do that is Facebook.
Newspapers should create business pages on Facebook if they donโt have one. They should also look beyond publishing their daily edition front pages. Newspapers can train their reporters on multimedia coverage. If news breaks and they are at the scene, they can go live on Facebook. They can also think of creating content for Facebook around key topics. Newspapers can have a daily, or weekly discussion or bring in independent panellists to review or discuss their stories. When news breaks, you donโt have to wait to print it out. Facebook could be a starting point for developing stories.
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This is the opportunity the new media has created. Newspapers can now create content and distribute it to multiple channels. Newspapers need to have their own YouTube channels. Nowadays people want to read but also see videos of happenings. Many people, including reporters, now have smartphones. There are many tools that they can use to edit their videos and publish them on YouTube channels. Reporters can also cover a news report and create different contents.for different platforms. They can also include WhatsApp verified videos in their reports and credit the source.
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You can tweet live events whether itโs a press conference, a riot or an award ceremony, it brings more followers to you. You can also live-tweet important quotes during the coverage of an event. Learn to use the #hashtag. This is the power of Twitter. Twitter has also recently launched Twitter space, which now allows for having a live conversation. You can schedule one. You can be having a weekly interview with a big personality, whether a Government official, a sports icon or a humanitarian. You can create a flyer with a picture of the guest for the week and publish it in print. It gives your fans information about the topic and the guest.
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News media are hopping on this platform. It is very popular, especially among young people. Almost 60% of all online adults aged 18 to 29 years old use Instagram. It has over 700 million monthly users and three times more engagement than Facebook. I call it the โaddictiveโ site. For most young people, this is where they get information on protests, police actions, etc. For those that love to publish newspaper front pages, well, this is the most appropriate place to do it. You can publish newspaper front pages, news in slideshow format, a nice quote in a flyer format, short video, etc.
About the Author:
Murtala Mohamed Kamara is a multimedia journalist, founder of Salone Jamboree newspaper and Managing Director of Jamboree Consult, an information technology, digital and advertising consultancy. Jamboree Consult provides website design services, Social Media Marketing, online reputation management, Mobile App development, Drone camera rental, video production, advertising etc.
