Traffic stop on U.S. Route 1 in College Park, Md. (Taken with Instagram)

Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr make for easy-share experience while working the beat

By now the tech market is saturated with mobile tools and applications to boost your productivity and even creativity in almost any field imaginable.

For me, the iPhone and its intriguing apps have been incredible resources for journalism, especially reporting in the field.

It’s also no secret that journalists should be savvy with the various mobile apps as a way to boost their outlet’s popularity and draw attention to important stories.

There are now more than 600 million users are Facebook and the numbers for other social networks such as Twitter, WordPress, Tumblr and Instagram are only growing as well.

This can be easily defined as an untapped audience just waiting to be consumers of today’s news both local and national.

For the past few months, I’ve been using Instagram as a way to reach out to followers and interested persons in my coverage network. I’ve also linked my Instagram photos to a Tumblr feed that I’ve set up to reflect my reporting experiences in the field and on assignments.

Council members take their seats at a Mount Rainier City Council work session. (Taken with Instagram)

I’ve found this is a great way to not only keep a running log of the exciting and sometimes unique experiences I encounter as a reporter, but also to reach out to others and connect people to the story.

Through this practice, and obviously the use of  Twitter, I’ve noticed a stronger following and increased viewership to my stories. When I’m not posting links, I’m posting content to these networks as a way to “tease” a story or provide some “b-roll”context that relates to a story.

From a news consumer perspective, I’ve found a strong attraction to stories when I read a tease or promotional tweet or blog post from the actual reporter because they are providing a personal insight into their work.

Here’s a blog post I stumbled upon from WUSA 9 reporter Lindsey Mastis, who explains the benefits of using Instagram on assignments: How I used Instagram while reporting on garage fires

Burning through this notepad as the North Brentwood Town Council discusses the possibility of losing its charter. (Taken with Instagram)

If you’re not already using mobile apps and social networks to promote your work and bridge a connection to your stories and the consumer, give it a shot. You won’t regret it.

Follow me on Twitter @danieljgross or check out my work with The Gazette.

It’s now reflective of my current employment status, my work as a professional journalist and some of my passions and interests.

Feel free to check it out and provide feedback if you’re inclined.

I’m sure there are a number of things people experience or see each day that they simply can’t put a finger on based on their own knowledge base and need to turn to others of a secondary expert resource to discover the answer.

Do you know why geese fly in a V pattern? How about why human joints make a popping sound? Why is the ocean blue? Many of these things can be classified as “everyday mysteries.” They’re not entirely unexplainable, but certainly require some thought and perhaps some extensive Wikipedia research to uncover the answer.

While the answers to these mind-boggling questions may not be answered right away, the main point to note here is the importance of asking such questions. I find that the more questions I ask each day, the better. It creates a heightened sense of awareness and new acquired knowledge, along with some potentially refreshing conversations. It’s important to never stop asking questions. There are many existing “everyday mysteries” that need to be answered and they require people to ask the basic “why” questions to uncover them.

McDonalds Monopoly 2011

The ever-popular Mcdonalds Monopoly promotion is back in full swing. While the odds of winning one of the featured prizes is several hundred million to one, patrons across the county keep track of their game pieces in hopes of hitting the jackpot.

The Monopoly promotion has been going strong for years and years since its genesis but what it truly needs now is a mobile app. With the amount of smartphone cross-promotion and QR code prevalence, I’m surprised a mainstream marketing strategy does not have its own app.

The game would exist harmoniously with a mobile app and allow users to track their pieces, review rules and enter their extra online codes that are provided on each piece. I can vision a great user interface on any of the mobile platforms (iPhone, Android, Windows, etc.) But I’m disappointed that the Mcdonalds team didn’t include these features and I hope that they will stay current with the latest trends and technology in the game’s future years.

As they say, “If you’re not keeping up, you’re falling behind.”

Everyone has there own means of getting the news that matters most to them at the comfort of their fingertips. By now, the market is saturated with ways and locations to retrieve a bundle of news whether it’s local, national, global, topical, etc.

From a March 15 article from Mashable Business:

In surveys conducted by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, 34% of respondents said they read news online within the past 24 hours (as opposed to 31% who favored newspapers); and a full 41% said they get most of their news online, 10% more than those who said they got most of their news from a newspaper.

As a professional journalist, I’ve seen the powers of social media use first hand while on assignment. Here’s an example: While covering a community-wide annual festival known as Port Towns Day, near Washington, D.C. and the Anacostia River, I was stopped by a man I had never met before. Or so I thought.

He looks at me and says, “Are you Daniel Gross?” I replied, “Well yes I am,”and shook his hand with a confused look on my face. He told me that he recognized my face from my Twitter avatar online and went on to say that he’s been following me on Twitter since I first started covering my beat for The Gazette.

He has turned out to be a great community source and it goes to prove the positive impact of using Twitter and Facebook both professionally and socially. Because of the outreach via Twitter, I had already, in a way, met this person. Therefore, getting over the initial relationship establishment was taken care of before actually meeting him face-to-face. I like to think of Twitter as a tool for getting ahead of the game. It’s one small effort to engage with the community around you in order to take your coverage or source development to the next level.

Here’s the article I wrote about the 15th annual Port Towns Day.

How has being active on Twitter and Facebook helped you in some way?

Chipotle Radio

My fiancée recently introduced me to an intriguing online radio service from an unassuming company. Chipotle, the Mexican grill sensation that has been rolling out burritos since 1993, has been rolling out their own streaming radio service for the past several years. If you’ve been to the popular restaurant you’d know that their music selection is anything but standard. Their indie tunes, ethic jingles and throwback tributes are hard not to notice when you’re chowing down on a bean-filled tortilla. Because of their popular selection in-house, they’ve made it possible to listen to their music choices at home or in the office.

Chipotle Radio has a unique radio player interface and enough options to choose from in terms of volume, track selection, track information, etc. The free radio player is hosted through a company called Custom Channels with the slogan “Beyond Background Music.” It looks like they offer custom radio channels for businesses or websites. With Chipotle’s music being so popular, I’m sure Custom Channels was happy to pick them up as a client.

Give Chipotle Radio a try. Even if you’re not thrilled about the music, it’s an interesting free player.

Here’s a short video I shot from our balcony in Columbia. Hurricane Irene is currently making its way up the east coast, covering many areas in Maryland. The conditions are fairly light in this video, as this was taken during the storm’s very early stages locally. This video was shot on a Kodak Playtouch (Zi10) Pocket HD video camera.

On the line

I shot this with my mobile phone a while back, but I just came across it on my computer when sorting through files and wanted to share. I like this photo. It’s very simple and most of all, it has texture.

Textures can be a fascinating subject. You don’t have to travel far or catch it at the right moment. Well, sometimes you do depending on the lighting situation. But the point is that textures are all around you and make for great photo opportunities.

Stone path

Now these aren’t nature-inspired landscapes or extravagant portraits, but they are simplistic details that can be neat to look at because they are so common in our natural surroundings.

(Photo courtesy of bradblog.com)

By now many of you have probably heard about the state fair stage collapse in Indiana and you may have even seen the shocking video footage of the collapse.

In total, five people died and more than 40 were injured from the collapse. What I didn’t realize is that one of those five victims was actually working on the top of the scaffolding, some 20 feet above the stage, when it came crashing down. I can’t imagine what was going through this individual’s mind just moments before falling.

Since the collapse occurred, the incident is being investigated. According to reports, State fair officials have not said whether or not the stage and rigging was inspected prior to Saturday’s show.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, I encourage you to check it out. It’s very shocking and heart-breaking but important to see. Reading about the accounts of this state fair gone wrong is one thing, but I believe syndicating eyewitness amateur video provides an even greater impact and I’m sure more and more people now care about this issue than they would have if the video did not exist. Amid the tragedy, this is a great example of citizen journalism and eyewitness reporting.