Social Media - An Avenue for Story Leads

I tested out the new media journalists have started using to track down interview subjects or get unexpected leads on stories.  I just launched a Twitter account, so I focused my efforts on Facebook where I have a larger audience.

A little background... 

I'm in the midst of investigating L.A. City Council's new policy to have city departments and encourage local organizations to donate their surplus food to local food banks, soup kitchens or homeless shelters.

I gave my Facebook friends some background in my first post, which sought any information on my story topic: "I'm working on a story about surplus food donations.  Know of any L.A. venues that donate food to local shelters?  Let me know :)"

This post was my status for about a day and didn't generate any feedback.

I looked to the expertise of the director of original video and social media at Yahoo! News, Anna Robertson, who told me Facebook users are more apt to "like" a post than leave a comment.

With that in mind, I tried a different approach.  Here's what I posted as my second status: "'like' this status if you think donating extra food should be as common as recycling.  Feel free to share why..."

This method--direct instruction--was slightly more successful as I received three "likes."  I was disappointed that I still failed to get any comments.

As a relentless reporter, I tried something different... what I like to call the "short and sweet" approach.  I posted, "Know of any place in L.A. that donates food to the needy?"

Within three minutes I received a comment with a lead I hadn't considered.  Here was the response: "Torrance Bakery! At the end of the day, all of the leftover bake goods are donated to homeless shelters!"  

I pursued it even more by asking, "does the bakery deliver the leftovers or does someone pick them up? do you know what shelters they go to?"

Here was the next response, "I believe the shelters go to the bakery at the end of the day and pick up! But I'm not sure which shelters! You can call and ask for kirk the owner!"

Through this last comment I got some great advice for my story and the name of a source to get in touch with.

Also in response to my final Facebook post, a different person told me many places that are capable of donating surplus food like grocery stories and restaurants don't feel completely absolved from liability with the Good Samaritan law, so I will definitely ask donors more about this topic when I interview them for my story to see what they have to say about it.

What I've taken away from this experience...

Social media is great to track down good interview subjects if you are able to get enough visibility that the right people connect you with the right subjects for your story.

It never hurts to try.  You may be surprised by what your Facebook friends have to say!