40 More Must-Follow Twitter Feeds for Journalism Students

Certain sources sporting active Twitter feeds are especially valuable to journalism students.

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As I mentioned in the first part of this two-part list, some accounts provide resources, advice, and links to help students learn the craft.  Others enable students to keep up with what journalists are debating, enjoying, and attempting to understand on a daily basis.  And still others offer relevant news and blueprints for covering campus life and keeping up with higher education issues.

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Building off the accounts featured in part one– such as @NiemanLab and @SPLC– here is an additional set of must-follow Twitter feeds.  They are listed in alphabetical order.

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@acpress: Kept by staff at the Associated Collegiate Press, the largest and oldest U.S. student journalism membership organization.  More than 2,000 followers.

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@AEJMC: Kept by staff at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, “the oldest and largest alliance of journalism and mass communication educators and administrators at the college level.”  More than 4,800 followers.

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@atompkins: Kept by Al Tompkins, a beloved longtime broadcast journalist and senior faculty member at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.  More than 7,100 followers.

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@bloghighed: Kept by staff at BlogHighEd, a blogger network aiming to “aggregate higher ed blogs from many areas: webmasters, marketers, counselors, vendors, consultants, and more.”  More than 4,900 followers.

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@bradwolverton: Kept by Brad Wolverton, a senior writer who covers college sports for The Chronicle of Higher Education, including the blog Players.  More than 2,000 followers.

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@carr2n: Kept by David Carr, a top media reporter, blogger, and columnist for The New York Times.  More than 389,000 followers.

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@CFashionista: Kept by staff at College Fashionista, “a college fashion site for those passionate about [the] latest fashion styles & trends across campuses worldwide.”  More than 10,000 followers.

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@charlesapple: Kept by Charles Apple, a longtime journalist and educator who maintains a popular visual journalism blog aligned with the American Copy Editors Society.  More than 3,500 followers.

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@chronicle: Kept by staff at The Chronicle of Higher Education, “the leading news source for higher education.”  More than 52,000 followers.

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@CJR: Kept by staff at the Columbia Journalism Review, a leading journalism industry magazine which “tracks the ongoing evolution of the media business.”  More than 19,000 followers.

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@CollegeFashion: Kept by staff at College Fashion, “the number-one online fashion, style & beauty magazine written by college students, for college students.”  More than 16,000 followers.

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@CollegeMag: Kept by staff at College Magazine, “the only uncensored source for everything college.”  More than 4,300 followers.

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@collegemedia: Kept by me, a complement to this blog. More than 2,300 followers.

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@collegeprobs: Kept by Madeline Huerta, as part of College Problems, a popular blog featuring humorous user-submitted complaints and confessions about college life.  More than 20,000 followers.

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@danieldevise: Kept by Washington Post higher education reporter Daniel de Vise, in part a complement to his blog Campus, Inc., which focuses on “campus life from a business perspective.”  More than 2,900 followers.

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@DiverseIssues: Kept by staff at the newsmagazine Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, the “premier news source for higher education and diversity issues.”  More than 2,700 followers.

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@Deggans: Kept by Eric Deggans, the television and media critic for the Tampa Bay Times who maintains the popular blog The Feed.  More than 6,900 followers.

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@ErikWemple: Kept by Erik Wemple, a Washington Post “editor-turned-blogger who’s obsessed with the media issues of the day.”  More than 4,600 followers.

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@FakeAPStylebook: A popular stream of comedic and satirical advice for journalists.  More than 299,000 followers.

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@hackcollege: Kept by staff at HackCollege, an acclaimed “student-powered lifehacking site” sporting the motto “Work smarter, not harder.”  More than 4,500 followers.

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@HerCampus: Kept by staff at Her Campus, “the #1 national online community for college women, covering style, health, love, life, and career, with chapters at 200+ colleges.”  More than 11,000 followers.

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@HuffPostCollege: Kept by staff at HuffPost College, the section of the Huffington Post behemoth focused on “breaking news from U.S. colleges and universities . . . campus life, college costs, collegiate sports, and university scandals.”  More than 39,000 followers.

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@insidehighered: Kept by staff at Inside Higher Ed, “the online source for news, opinion, and jobs for all of higher education.”  More than 39,000 followers.

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@IRE_NICAR: Kept by staff at Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., “a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting.”  More than 5,000 followers.

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@ivygate: Kept by staff at IvyGate, a leading “news, gossip, and commentary blog that covers the Ivy League.”  More than 4,200 followers.

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@jackshafer: Kept by Jack Shafer, a highly-respected Reuters columnist who covers politics and the media.  More than 30,000 followers.

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@Journojobs: Regular updates on “the latest, highest paying journalism jobs in the U.S.”  More than 3,700 followers.

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@JustinPopeAP: Kept by Justin Pope, a national higher education reporter for The Associated Press.  More than 1,600 followers.

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@macloo: Kept by Mindy McAdams, an online journalism professor at the University of Florida respected for “[a]lways doing some kind of journalism training (multimedia, social media, online), somewhere in the world.”  More than 6,800 followers.

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@mbmarklein: Kept by Mary Beth Marklein, a veteran higher education reporter at USA TODAY who covers “college admissions, college graduation, and pretty much everything in between.”  More than 3,000 followers.

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@NanetteAsimov: Kept by Nanette Asimov, a higher education reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle.  More than 3,000 followers.

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@nextgenjournal: Kept by staff at NextGen Journal, the only national news and commentary outlet by students for students, branded as “the platform for our generation.”  More than 2,200 followers.

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@nytimescollege: Kept by New York Times senior editor and author Jacques Steinberg, affiliated with his top college admissions and financial aid blog The Choice.  More than 7,500 followers.

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@RCFP: Kept by staff at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, “a nonprofit association dedicated to providing free legal assistance to journalists.”  More than 2,100 followers.

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@robcurley: Kept by Rob Curley, a highly-regarded “new media journalist, manager, and strategist” who serves as an editor at The Orange County Register.  More than 1,800 followers.

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@SPJGenerationJ: Kept by staff at the Society of Professional Journalists, as part of its initiative Generation J, “the place where future newsroom leaders can collaborate to build newsrooms of the future.”  More than 700 followers.

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@TheFIREorg: Kept by staff at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, “the premier organization defending free speech, due process, and academic freedom on college campuses.”  More than 5,500 followers.

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@webjournalist: Kept by Robert Hernandez, “one of the few true veterans of web journalism” and an assistant professor within the University of Southern of California’s School of Communication and Journalism.  More than 9,000 followers.

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@wiredcampus: Kept by four Chronicle of Higher Education staffers as a complement to the popular blog Wired Campus, which tracks “the latest news on tech and education.”  More than 8,500 followers.

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@wpjenna: Kept by Washington Post higher education reporter Jenna Johnson, in part a complement to her Campus Overload blog, which provides “a syllabus for navigating the high-powered campus social scene.”  More than 12,000 followers.

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Related

20 Must-Follow Twitter Feeds for Student Journalists

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Prediction: Fashion Journalism Will Soon Go Viral Within College Media (@CollegeFashion @DailyTarHeel #style)

My bold, wrinkle-free prediction: Fashion journalism will be the next niche to explode within collegemediatopia and j-programs nationwide.  The immense popularity of the related industry, general student interest in the topic area, and fashion’s innate, multimedia-friendly visualness will all spur a rise in related classes, minors, majors, grad programs, student newspaper sections, and independent sites.

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The indy site College Fashion is already a mega-hit (a global brand, started just a few years ago by a single UMASS student).  CollegeFashionista is another popular online student style source.  And while it is still nibbling around the edges of student papers (very few sections are devoted specifically to fashion and style), I have seen an increase in the amount and variety of fashion features popping up in print and online (the latter typically as photo slideshows).

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One campus-specific style site that debuted this week: smufashionmedia.com.  Affiliated with Southern Methodist University’s fashion media program, it aims to provide the lowdown on fashionable trends and breaking news “with an SMU-in-Dallas twist.“

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According to a report in The Daily Campus, SMU’s student newspaper, one “noteworthy feature of the website will be a piece called ‘On the Boulevard.’  This section will be modeled after ‘On the Street,’ the weekly piece in The New York Times by Bill Cunningham in which he captures candid shots of the latest fashion trends on the streets of New York City.  ‘We are going to be photographing all kinds of people who we think are fashionably dressed,’ [the fashion media program director] said. ‘Something that’s cool, something that’s creative.'”

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One early “Boulevard” slideshow focuses on “colored jeans.”

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The feature reminded me of “Dress Code,” a fantastic Daily Tar Heel fashion blog at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that breaks down campus style trends and spotlights student fashionistas.  For students interested in this area of journalism, it is definitely worth a look.

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In the Spotlight: College Fashion Founder Zephyr Basine

Zephyr Basine is a candy fiend who considers vanilla cupcakes (with extra frosting) manna from heaven and Sour Patch Kids fit to rule the world. She is also “a fan of fearless style” whose name has become synonymous with College Fashion.

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Basine started CF as a personal blog while an undergrad at UMASS Amherst, quickly spinning it into “a worldwide student-run online fashion magazine.”  As she recalls, “I created College Fashion in March of 2007 because I loved reading fashion blogs but couldn’t find any that were aimed specifically at college students. All my favorite fashion sites and magazines catered either to middle-aged women or 16 year olds in high school.  I started this website to fill that need. It began as a fun hobby but it’s grown into a full time job and then some!”

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The blog is now not just a trendsetter (the first fashion blog by college students, for college students) but a brand name, identified to me by several fans simply by its acronym. For her fearless style, new media savvy, and entrepreneurial spirit, the CF founder rightfully earns a spot in the CMM spotlight.

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Zephyr Basine, College Fashion Founder & Editor-in-Chief

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Write a six-word memoir of your CF experience so far.

Doing what you love is bliss.

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What is the secret to your blog’s success?

CF is successful because we are different from every other site out there, in that we’re the only fashion blog devoted solely to college students. While most fashion blogs focus on teens in high school or 30-somethings who can afford couture, our content is written by and for our reader, the average college girl. We always keep her needs and preferences in mind, and always strive to be helpful, cutting-edge, and relevant.

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Making our readers happy is our marketing strategy: I’d say 90% of our growth has come about through word of mouth. I started CF in early 2007 and it’s grown like crazy since then, with pretty much zero promotion from me. We now receive over one million pageviews per month, and that number is constantly growing. It’s very exciting and surreal!

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When did you realize CF was becoming big?

I first realized the site was successful when we started averaging over 20 comments per blog post. Comments are really important on blogs because they show that people care enough about what you wrote to tell you their thoughts. But the majority of people don’t comment on posts. So comments are an easy way to see how successful a blog is. It’s easy for sites that want to claim they’re popular to lie about traffic numbers, but you can’t fake an engaged community. It was only when we started to command a very large readership that we started to see lots of comments on every post, and that’s the first time I noticed the site was a success.

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Standout CF memory.

The biggest standout memory for me is definitely being invited to attend New York Fashion Week this past September. It was so amazing to cover the runway shows up-close, instead of just checking out the clothes on a computer screen. Going to fashion week has been my dream for as long as I can remember, and I’m so excited to attend NYFW again in February!

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What is the toughest part of running a high-traffic daily blog with staff?

Making myself STOP working on CF is definitely the toughest part of my job. I have always been a bit of a workaholic and since I graduated college 6 months ago, I’ve been working on the site full-time. The phrase 9-to-5 means nothing to me. My work hours are basically from 7 AM to 10 PM, 7 days a week, with the occasional break to go shopping or maybe eat something. Forcing myself to only work for one hour on Christmas was one of the most difficult things I’ve done, business-wise, this year. Crazy, maybe, but I love my job.

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How did your love of fashion start?

I’ve always been interested in fashion. I can remember drawing clothing designs everywhere, spending hours coming up with new outfits, and constantly playing dress-up as a kid. As I got older, I began to see clothes as a means of self-expression, and fell in love with the idea of fashion as an art form. Fashion is about more than just an LV monogram on a bag: it’s transformative. Fashion allows you to be whoever you want to be, to express what’s on your mind, or even just escape from the monotony of everyday life. Above all, fashion helps make people feel good about themselves. I think that’s something worth appreciating.

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How about your love of journalism?

While I’ve been an avid reader of the New Yorker and the Times since high school, my love of journalism really started when I was in college. I took a bunch of journalism classes after I started CF, and they really made me take my site and my writing more seriously. While I’m not sure I’d say that the topics we cover on College Fashion fall into the category of “serious journalism” (it’s not like we’re saving lives), I still have an immense amount of respect for the field.

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What advice do you have for current j-students looking to start a high-impact blog or simply up their Web game?

Do something new or don’t bother. I created College Fashion because there were no sites out there that catered to college girls interested in fashion, and people love it because it’s different other fashion blogs. If you want to be successful, you have to be original. There are a million blogs out there- how will yours be unique? Copying someone else will NEVER lead to success. Everyone will always see you as a wannabe- not exactly a good branding strategy. Sure, it’s easier to take someone else’s idea and pass it off as your own, but if you do, people will either see right through you or simply ignore you. Although it’s more difficult, being original is the way to succeed.

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You wake up in ten years. Where are you and what are you doing?

The future is an open book and I love it that way! But my best guess: I’m living in New York, LA, or possibly Paris. As for what I’m doing? I’m still running my own company, a global media dynasty focusing on multi-channel fashion and lifestyle-related content. My job is non-boring, and I’m loving every minute of it. I have a stay-at-home husband, 2 kids, and an ever-expanding Chanel collection.

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