I attended a session with Chip Mahaney (@ChipMahaney on Twitter) during the second day of sessions at the RTNDA conference. He focused a lot on Facebook and Twitter. It was great to hear what he had to say and really reminded me how important it is to focus on the social networking tools that people already use. (I say that often - it's so great to hear someone else have similar thoughts) You can target people who are in your newsroom who already know how to use these tools and have them help you administer the products. They'll teach you stuff you probably didn't know.

Facebook is savvy with its product pages. Not only does it give you the opportunity to promote your newsroom's brand, you can get creative, promote and track the activity on your page. This is something I haven't taken the time to do yet but recently got the support of my station to move forward and really work on building a great identity on Facebook. What's even better, Facebook has written up how to do it. It's very smart.

Worried about snarky comments? Facebook requires less maintenance on the snarky level because people have to use their names and maintain their true personality on that site. It's a great point. You will see fewer snark because you can't slam a newsroom anonymously. Your reputation is important on Facebook... so you probably won't muck it up just to leave negative comments on a newsroom Facebook page.

A big discussion came up over employees using Facebook at work. Everyone should have access to social media. Former news director and current MultiMedia Concept Group's multimedia executive Joe Coscia said it really well: "This is the voice and pulse of what our market is saying." He wants to hire younger people who have the smarts and know the technology. That's what rubs off onto the rest of the organization. His big question (which is everyone's question) is how is this going to help the core business. This isn't driving the same margins. Maheney mentioned newsrooms should develop a written guideline for your staff on how they should manage their time. "I don't mind Facebook use - but I want to know they're on there promoting the company on company time."

The next portion of the discussion to use your Twitter accounts to engage your audience. Some sites have a cache -- there's a delay in posting!! (Could be 3, 5, 10 minutes late!) Your logo, information can pop up right away using Twitter.

Chip showed how Tweetdeck works, how to search topics, follow trends and understand some of the basics of hashtags. Twitter isn't a big deal because it is a website - what is great is the power of the site. Every post is open and viewable by anyone else. It's powerful as the messages travel everywhere and anywhere. You can track trends with Twitscoop and other tools... Twitter gives you all of its content and it gives anyone a chance to harness that information. All of that content is free. These tools help organize the millions of tweets a day.

Assignment editor could create searches to keep track of information in your area. It's portable. It's quick. It's informative. So dang simple.

Chip is going to offer advice on tech tools later on today at RTNDA... So he wrapped up with some general tools and advice.

"How To Win Friends and Influence People," by Dale Carnegie. Chip used this book as a great example on how to use social networking. So he tweaked the advice into today's terms.

1. Realize the social networking world does not revolve around you or your station. It's everyone's home! You don't have a tower. You're not 2. Listen before you speak. See how people talk to each other. Figure out the terminologies. Ask questions. People love to help. But listen first. 3. Make your friends feel special. (@reply by a person's name) A big personality who replies or comments and call someone out by name, it's special to them. 4. Ask lots of questions. 5. Proactively manage the conversation 6. Bring something to the table that the online community values.

You as a leader in a newsroom can implement these tools: 1. Be online. You don't have to be the biggest consumer, but you need to be out there with a genuine interest. You need to show that it's important and you care. 2. Learn to keep score. This is for any kind of online work. Check the metrics on your online properties. Hold yourself accountable for raising traffic month to month. 3. Start small. Move fast. Start with one thing - one tool to connect with your audience. Maintain it and keep it moving. Do something new again next month. One month, get onto Twitter. Next month, get onto Facebook. Do seminars to teach the culture. Take advantage of the social networking experts in your town. (Chip's town has meet ups where 4. Exploit your expertise. If it's weather, communicate really well about weather. If it's investigative reporting, do it. 5. Learn a new skill every month. If you can do it, your staff can do it. 6. Experiment. It's OKAY to fail, as long as you "fail fast" and learn. Don't let it linger out there. See what works and move on. Set a time limit and decide if you will move on or keep it going. 7. You can't stand still. Learn. Go to Mashable and learn. 8. You can't try everything at once 9. Hire people who know more than you.

Your staff needs to know how you stand on social networks. Be open and honest.