Link: O.C. remembers Steve Jobs

Link: Think Different

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just gotten home from work and was walking my beagle. I got a text from my husband who asked if I knew. “Know what?” I asked. And then he told me that Steve Jobs had died. I still couldn’t believe the news. I read through all the text messages and push notifications and emails I’d received as news alerts. I was in disbelief.

As our tech reporter worked up the main story, I worked on two Storifys as sidebars. The first one was on Orange County people reacting on Twitter to the news. The other I published the next day – a Storify of the exact words of the famous “Think Different” campaign by Apple that also speaks to Jobs’ thinking that shaped Apple and everyone who uses the company’s products.

Link: Record crowds eat through the OC Fair

Link: Storify wrap-up of #OCFair tweets

In a regular story, wrapping up the last day of the Orange County Fair, I was able to use social media to add valuable information to my story.

The first big help was in finding a person to talk to about this year’s fair. Rather than going to the fair and wandering around aimlessly looking for an interesting person, I looked up the OC Fair Foursquare mayor. I asked her via Twitter if I could interview her for my story and she agreed. She turned out to be a fair employee, a bartender, who attended all but one day of this year’s fair. She’s also been to the fair every year since she was a small girl. One hour later, I had a story with great insight provided by the fair’s “mayor.”

I also used Storify to bring in some interesting details from the fair’s last two days. The tweet quotes show the human side of the fair’s final weekend – as told by its attendees.