Kevin Anderson, a digital strategist and freelance journalist, spoke to our class today via Skype. He has worked for BBC, Al Jazeera English and the Guardian.

Check out his personal Twitter account , his Muckrack account, and some of his work with Al Jazeera English here.

When asked what tools are needed for a journalism skill set in the real world, Anderson  says an important part of landing a first job is to take the initiave now by setting up a blog, taking pictures, and doing multimedia journalism. Anderson says to also start thinking about the best way to tell stories through this type of social media.

Anderson also notes that Zeemaps is a great tool for projects as well. He suggests that when doing video recording, make sure to get some of the background noise from the setting where you are reporting to make the audience feel like they are in the middle of the story. Audio is one of the most important things when shooting video, but often is forgotten the most. Shaky video is forgiven, but terrible sound quality is not.

“Social media without context doesn’t do the audience any favors,” says Anderson. In other words, make sure that when using platforms such as Storify, you are able to explain the various social media content that is being used.

With there being an increase in more citizen journalists, it can be hard for trained journalists to make their mark. Regarding this situation, Anderson says, “If we amplify every voice, it just becomes noise.” It is still important to make editorial choices when dealing with articles and newsworthy items.

“We’re entering a fascinating time, and how we navigate that is going to be very interesting, especially as journalists. It’s a tough time in journalism. You’ve got to start somewhere. Where you start doesn’t determine where you end up,” says Anderson.