Online communities & content management

You will learn how to develop and manage online communities effectively, including social media, in the changing relationship of journalists with users, consumers, readers, viewers and listeners. Online communities have become an increasingly important area for journalism and related media activities.

News organisations often seek to develop communities of engaged users both to enhance the 'stickiness' and loyalty of users to websites and to leverage additional channels for commercial benefits. 

Engaging with the key concepts, technologies and techniques relevant to platform and community management will equip you to understand the context of this work.

Analysing the development of online communities and the management of user experience will enable you to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. 

You will develop strategies for key techniques such as social media optimisation and the management of social capital and reputation, as well as for user-generated content and crowd-sourcing. 

A solid understanding of content management systems (CMSS) has become essential for journalists working with online, user-oriented and interactive content. 

You will analyse and evaluate the principal features of CMSS, learning how industry-standard systems operate, along with related software tools and techniques.