He describes a new “prime time” for online news use.  For example, use of computers, mobile devices and tablets jump up after about 6 a.m.  Computers rule for much of the day until just before 6 p.m. when people start heading home from work, they end up switching to mobile devices and tablets.

Kaplitz says the data tells him that TV stations can’t wait till 6 p.m. to share the news, consumers are getting it throughout the day.

Here are his writing tips, but watch the video for more detailed explanations of what he’s talking about — it’s good advice.

Kaplitz Web writing tips

1. Keep it short

2. Be direct

3. Use bullets

4. Start with the most important

5. Write conversationally

6. Link to other stories

7. Don’t cut & paste

8. Use key words

9. Use subheads

10. Strive for clarity, not creativity

For a multimedia journalist, producing a story on his or her own, getting it right is just as important, but tougher to accomplish.

Jacqueline Ingles calls herself a multi-platform, one-woman band reporting at KXAN in Austin, Tex. She knows that working across platforms means meeting a tougher standard.

Not only do I have to present fair and accurate pieces on air, my online pieces must be as clean and grammatically correct as a newspaper writer’s article.  I have been called out many times by readers for placing a period where there should be a semicolon.  It may not seem like a big deal, but viewers and readers do not know you are juggling eight balls in the air.  You also took on the job of juggling those balls, so do it right.  They expect quality out of their journalists, and it is your job to deliver.

Ingles wrote an article for Quill, which included a list of suggestions for those working as solo journalists — here are some of my favorites:

DO

• Write your online script, walk away for 10 minutes, come back and re-read what you wrote before hitting PUBLISH.
• Call your superiors if you need more time to get your story ready.  Never rush to the Web or to air.

DON’T

• Steal natural sound from one piece of b-roll and place it under other video.  This is unethical, and you are lying to your viewer.
• Blame all you have to do in a day for errors online or on TV.  You took on this job and you must make it work.
• Think reporting is all about you.  If you have to sacrifice looking good on TV for a better story, drop the makeup and hair curler and get to work.

The majority of 2010 bachelor’s degree recipients said they had the skill when they completed their studies to write for the Web, edit for the Web, use still photography on the Web, adapt to the digital environment generally, and use the social media professionally.

In a follow-up question the researchers asked graduates to list skills, if any, they felt were missing. More than three of 10 dealt with the Web specifically.

Many of the skills listed, such as knowledge of HTML, programming and social media, are part of the Web environment. Others, such as graphic design and photo editing, have strong Web connections.

In addition, the 2010 Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communications Graduates found that two-thirds  of grads working in communication are writing and editing for the Web.

The researchers said, “Almost regardless of employer type, writing and editing for the Web is a prominent part of the work landscape.”

More than half are using social network sites in their jobs as well, and a fifth are designing and building websites.

When it comes to getting and keeping jobs, this year shows a slight improvement over last, but pay remains low and benefits relatively poor.

In fact, the median salary earned by the 2010 graduates of $30,000 is exactly the same as the median salary reported in 2006, the last year that salaries improved over the year before.

Break that down by media type and once again, TV news salaries are the lowest — the average for 2010 was $25,400 (though that’s up from $24,900 a year earlier).

As in previous years, women were hired at rates higher than men, though the researchers explain that as a factor of advertising and public relations attracting more women.

Minority graduates in 2010 once again had a more difficult time in the job market than did graduates who were not members of racial and ethnic minorities. The gap in 2010 of 17.1% is the largest ever recorded in the survey.

Here are a few favorites:

INTEL

• Always pause and think before posting. That said, reply to comments in a timely manner, when a response is appropriate. But if it gives you pause, pause. If you’re about to publish something that makes you even the slightest bit uncomfortable, don’t shrug it off and hit ‘send.’ Take a minute to review these guidelines and try to figure out what’s bothering you, then fix it. If you’re still unsure, you might want to discuss it with your manager or legal representative. Ultimately, what you publish is yours – as is the responsibility. So be sure.
• Perception is reality. In online social networks, the lines between public and private, personal and professional are blurred. Just by identifying yourself as an Intel [replace Intel with any company name here] employee, you are creating perceptions about your expertise and about Intel by our shareholders, customers, and the general public-and perceptions about you by your colleagues and managers. Do us all proud. Be sure that all content associated with you is consistent with your work and with Intel’s values and professional standards.
• It’s a conversation. Talk to your readers like you would talk to real people in professional situations. In other words, avoid overly pedantic or “composed” language. Don’t be afraid to bring in your own personality and say what’s on your mind. Consider content that’s open-ended and invites response. Encourage comments. You can also broaden the conversation by citing others who are blogging about the same topic and allowing your content to be shared or syndicated.

KODAK

• Be external. You don’t have to be 100% internally focused. Link to other blogs, videos, and news articles. Retweet what others have to say.
• Post frequently. It’s a lot of work but don’t post to your blog then leave it for two weeks. Readers won’t have a reason to follow you on Twitter or check your blog if they can’t expect new content regularly.

SAP

• Separate opinions from facts, and make sure your audience can see the difference.
• Be engaged and be informed. Read the contributions of others. Know what the current conversations are and what people are saying in order to see if, and how, you may be able to contribute a new perspective. Participation is the fuel of social computing.
• … Provide links to other blogs, media articles or whatever sources you think are necessary. Make your content rich and interesting for others to read. Consider attaching documents when necessary.

And maybe the best one of all…

ZAPPOS

Be real and use your best judgement.

1. Keep it short and sweet. Keep sentences short. Omit unnecessary words. Only include one idea per paragraph. Keep paragraphs short: tell the reader to “read me.”

2. Subheads are key. Remember readers are scanning — make it easy for them! Use subheads to show them where to go in the story. Use keywords that make sense in the subhead titles.

3. Lists and bullets are your friend. Use whenever possible! It makes keywords stick out.

 - It breaks up content
 - It looks more readable
 - It seems more manageable

That reads better than: “It breaks up the content, it looks more readable and it seems more manageable.”

4. Be conversational. Use active words. Actually talk to the reader. This is a lot more like broadcast writing style then print. Use words like “you” and “we.” Use words that people know — even if spellcheck says they don’t exist!

5. Remember the inverted pyramid. Keep the most important information up top, but do it because it is important not because of space issues. On the internet you have as much space as you need — use lists and subheads to highlight that information up top, then go into more detail.

6. Links are crucial. They provide readers with more information. They can help move your article up in searches (if the links work). They also make certain words stand out to readers.

7. Bold, italicize, uppercase. In lists, in paragraphs and in subheads. Be careful to not do it to much though — it can look messy. (Also, always be sure to check with your news organizations policy on this!)

8. Be direct. Web readers are there for information — GIVE IT TO THEM! Do not dance around the subject.

What Lynn is talking about can be called “visual writing” — creating copy with lots of white space that looks accessible and visually appealing o the reader.

Craving more advice?  Check out this oldie but goodie on Web writing from usability guru Jakob Nielsen.

Many broadcast journalists have taken to rewriting their stories for the Web by simply adding a new top in traditional print style. But the inverted pyramid  may not work that well online either.

Jacqui Banaszynski, a prize-winning journalist who now teaches at the University of Missouri, suggests a different approach: a totem pole. Instead of lumping the who, what, when, where, why and how at the top of the story, give each element its own label, summary and link.

At a workshop for business journalists, Banaszynski offered five additional things to keep in mind to improve Web stories:

1. Priority: Be clear about what’s important to know fast. Answer the reader’s immediate questions high in the story.

2. Clarity: Make understanding immediate and easy.

3. Efficiency: Subheads and bullets help to organize your writing and package it in a way that helps your readers.

4. Brevity: Studies show that readers take snapshots of information, meaning they are looking for information in quick, scanable bursts.

5. Common sense: Use unanswered questions as part of your story. Don’t write around unanswered questions, something that frustrates readers.

Sourced from: NewsLab

…only 60.4% of the 2008 bachelor degree recipients had landed full-time employment about a half year after graduation. That is not only a steep drop from 2007, when 70.2% had jobs. It also represents the lowest employment level for grads in the 23-year history of the survey.

Women graduates were once again hired more frequently than male graduates, and minorities were again hired  at lower rates than non-minorities.  However, the gap between minorities and non-minorities decreased – in 2008 it was about 6% vs. 12% in 2007.

The survey also found that the need for journalism grads, in particular, to have online skills seems to be growing – 76.9% of those who found work in daily newspapers say they write or edit for the Web.  In TV, that percentage is 64.6% – up about 10% from 2007 for both.

On a positive note, salaries seemed to hold pretty steady.

…in inflation-adjusted dollars, the bachelor’s degree recipients actually earned slightly more in 2008 than a year earlier.

The average salary for TV jobs was $24,000 a year, the lowest of all categories again this year.  The highest average salary was in cable TV – $33, 800 per year.  Web-related jobs came in second with average salaries of $33,000 annually.

Unfortunately, more graduates seem to be regretting their decision to get a degree in journalism and mass communications.  In 2008, three out of every 10 expressed that view, up from 27.2% in 2007.

Advice: Break news, say something that hasn’t been said, collate what no one has collated, and then link to the biggies when you publish.

So, why link to the “biggies,” as in popular blogs? Rosen says it’s not only the number of hits on your blog that help you measure success; he says it may be more important for your blog to be “getting links to sites that are ‘in’ the main conversation.” These are the blogs that are recognized as thought leaders on a particular topic.

What’s the best way to get people to link to you? Talk about them at your blog! Or link to some post they did, and then click a bunch of times on the link to their blog that you put in your post.

For a lot of journalists, this is an uncomfortable place to be – building off of other people’s work and taking on the task of self-promotion, but that’s what it seems we’re talking about here – alerting people to the work you’re doing in order to get them to view it. It’s just that in the past, for many mainstream journalists, there were folks in the promotion department doing the job for them.

Another way to get blog exposure? Use Twitter – something that can be particularly useful for a blog that updates less than daily.

Daily posting leads to people subscribing and checking back, but that’s not going to work unless you have new stuff to tell them; if your pace is more 2-3 times a week for longer posts that’s a different rhythm and will lead to a different user base with diferent expectations. My blog is on a “slow” rhythm and I use Twitter to activate it when I need it. But I long ago lost any users looking for a daily read.

Others in the conversation suggested putting alerts about new posts on Facebook or any other site that might draw additional viewers to your blog.

Rosen also admits that getting a blog off the ground is more difficult now that there’s so much competition, but if you’re reading this post, you may have one advantage.

Remember: most amateur bloggers are lazy. If you want to stand out, add more richness, do more work. Put in the time and save the user time.

Reporter Jason DeRusha of WCCO-TV in Minneapolis says writing for online publication may be the “most important and least appreciated” part of his job. At his station, reporters don’t hand off their stories to a Web producer for rewriting; they’re expected to write their own Web versions and to understand how Web writing is different.

Online readers expect you to get to the point right away. On-air, you might build your story to a climactic point. Online readers expect you to cite your sources, specifically. Online readers expect you to link to source material.

DeRusha admits that when he first started writing Web stories, he hated the extra work. But he’s figured out how to make it count:

I love adding the extra information that I had to leave out because of time. I love the challenge of coming up with a provocative headline to attract viewers. And I’m proud of the fact that when people link to my stories, they get a well-written story, under my name, and under my station’s brand.

DeRusha’s multimedia duties don’t stop there, by the way. He also blogs, Tweets and has a live Webcam at his desk.

According to Nielsen, good headlines should have these characteristics:

• short (because people don’t read much online);
• rich in information scent, clearly summarizing the target article;
• front-loaded with the most important keywords (because users often scan only the beginning of list items);
• understandable out of context (because headlines often appear without articles, as in search engine results); and
• predictable, so users know whether they’ll like the full article before they click (because people don’t return to sites that promise more than they deliver).

In speaking about the BBC’s work in particular, Nielsen provided a list of strong headlines from the site and  noted “the average headline consumed a mere 5 words and 34 characters. The amount of meaning they squeezed into this brief space is incredible.”

Each headline conveys the gist of the story on its own, without requiring you to click. Even better, each gives you a very good idea of what you’ll get if you do click and lets you judge — with a high degree of confidence — whether you’ll be interested in the full article.

So, who needs to know all this?  Anybody who wants people to see their work.  As individual journalists become more and more responsible for the presentation of their own work online, it’s going to become increasingly important that they know and understand how headlines drive traffic and how to write the most effective headlines possible.