2026 - Fall

Methods and Practice: Social Media Skills for Journalists

Course Number: JOUR-UA 202.001

Day & Time: Wed | 5:45PM PM – 9:45 PM

Location: 20 Cooper Square, Room 654

Instructor: Caterina Andreano

Prerequisites: Journalistic Inquiry: The Written Word JOUR-UA 101

Mastering the art of social production and distribution has become a core skill in newsrooms, as essential as reporting, writing and editing. In 2026, successful journalists must understand how to both produce content for social platforms and how to distribute it strategically to maximize viewership. This course will teach you how to build, grow and engage audiences across social platforms, giving you the foundational skills to become a social media producer and audience development editor.

TikTok is a primary news source for Gen Z. YouTube is now the top destination for TV-screen viewing in the U.S. Instagram continues to be the favorite social platform among millennials and Gen Z. And Facebook, X, Threads are important referral traffic drivers for newsrooms. This course will teach you how to think like a social media producer and strategist across all of these social platforms. You’ll learn how to transform a linear piece of content into posts for various social platforms, how to produce bespoke social packages, how to optimize content for search-driven discovery and how to analyze data from social platforms to help shape editorial decisions.

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Notes: Counts as an elective for the journalism major and both journalism minors.

Questions? Email undergraduate.journalism@nyu.edu.