instagram ignite

Using

As a Reporting Tool

Tips from Sonia Narang, PRI’s The World

Portraits of interview subjects

From Marco’s feed, a nice portrait

Commenting

Building interest in the story before it airs

Sharing Instagram photos on FB/Twitter

Comments on Facebook

Instagram photos can spark conversations on Twitter

Consistently post around a theme, such as #firstdays, the stories of immigrants in the U.S.You don’t have to travel far.

So, what makes a good photo?

Element of surprise, close-up, taking an audience where they’ve never been

Credit: @grantslater/KPCC Radio

Be creative, capture colors

Credit: @allisonshelley in Lagos

Close-ups work well on an iPhone screen

Try taking a bunch of photos from a few different angles.

I picked this image out of the

25-30 photos I took of this new mother

with her baby.

Captions are important: You can be funny or descriptive, try something new.

Credit: @emamd/LA Times

Hashtags

Put these after thecaption:#city #country#topic #keywords#pritheworld#blackandwhite Include @pritheworld in the captionCredit: @michaelchristopherbrown

#libya #libyanrevolution

Get Tory to Tweet about your Instagram account on @pritheworld

Or, Jeb to her very well-connected Twitter following!

If Marco likes your feed, he’ll do a shout-out on air. The next time you log into your account,

you’ll have 100’s of new followers.

Note to producers:When the show brings

Instagram comments on-air, itgives people more of an incentive to

comment on our stuff.

That also means you could have dozens of

comments to respond to. And, respond

you must.

Follow good photographers, see what they like

Next Steps• Get your very own Instagram account. If you

really don’t want to join Instagram, at least visit http://instagram.com and check out what cool photographers are doing. I’ll send a list.

• Try searching for hashtags with favorite cities to see what’s out there. One fun hashtag: #16x9fordays. Check it out!

• Post a photo with a caption. Try to take a close-up of something artistic or a portrait of someone you meet. You too can win the bear.