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A Slack primer for newsrooms

Many news organizations are using Slack, a popular team-based communication tool that combines the best of email and chat, to improve communication and collaboration. This primer was used as part of the Slack rollout out at one news organization.

Many news organizations have found the real-time messaging app Slack to be a useful tool for distributed communication and collaboration. The American Press Institute built a helpful primer doc for one news organization, which could easily be adapted for use elsewhere. The following topics are addressed in this doc:

  • How Slack works (channels and direct messages)
  • Ground rules and how to set up a profile
  • Joining the conversation (channels and emoji are specific to this news organization, but the examples are helpful)
  • Using attachments, images, emoji
  • Managing your Slack (tweaking notifications, muting channels, etc.)