A friend of mine recently told me that a local KTVB, channel 7 reporter did a story where the lead came from her mother-in-law.  Is this normal? Where do reporters/journalists find stories at?  Is it ethical to have your family be your leads on a regular basis? (From what my source tells me, this particular person does this quite frequently).  hehe…I feel so rogue using the words “my source”.

Do you believe your credibility would be tarnished if people found out that you use your “real” family for leads?

What if you took that same zest for listening and did so with your Twitter or FaceBook audience?  How many stories are you missing now because you are not listening?  My thought is that your credibility would be a tad bit stronger and your stories more diverse!  What are you missing by not listening and engaging with your audience?

I see the use of  “extended family” being practiced at our local Fox12 station quite frequently. Quite often when they need an expert to comment on a story, it is a Twitter faithful who gets their voice heard.  Thanks for listening Fox12!

This goes beyond traditional media outlets…if you are a flower shop here in town, what opportunities are passing you by because all you do on your social media networks is push your flowers and when you are open? Not very “social” now is it?

Lesson? Listen and participate and you will be listened to as well.