Lynn Walsh

A story written for the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA):

Using QR Codes to Your Advantage
Aug 27 2010
By Lynn Walsh, Texas Watchdog

QR codes are everywhere lately, on New York City garbage trucks, at music festivals and even in print advertisements.

QR or Quick Response codes are scanable bar codes that can be read by QR readers on mobile phones. Some codes just link to one website, others link to a whole list of contact information for an individual or a company.

Mobile QR apps are everywhere and most of them are free. It is also free to scan the QR codes and with plenty of QR code generators that are also free, there is no reason why journalists should not experiment with them as well.

As an individual there are plenty of ways to take advantage of QR codes. From generating one for a personal business card with all of your contact information in one code or having one specific to a website you work for-the possibilities are endless.

But how can QR Codes be used effectively by a news organization? Since QR codes are one of my new favorite things I have have a few suggestions:

1. News Scavenger Hunts. At station events use QR codes to link back to your station’s news coverage. Have fliers or printed boards with questions about recent news events or trivia that link back to stories the station has covered. The viewers would scan the code and be sent to view a story on the station website. It sends traffic back to the site while being a source of entertainment for viewers.

2. Added Value to News content. Sometimes a story could benefit from more than 15 seconds of coverage. Expand the stories on the web and create a QR code that is specific to that page of the site. When reporters are out in the field they can hand out the codes or even wear the code on clothing or a badge so people can easily find where more information is located.

3. Branding. Working for an online news publication that is new in a city can be hard at times–people may not recognize the name right away and you may not always have the time to explain it for longer than 10 seconds. Create a code that can go on a business card, press badge, clothing, microphones, cameras, etc. that can be scanned on the run. Have the code direct people to the site to learn who you are and what you cover.

4. Breaking News. Develop a code that goes directly to the station’s Twitter account or breaking news page of the website. Better yet-why not paint it on the news trucks? When people see a news van they normally wonder what the big story is–now you can tell them! Create a page on the site or a twitter account for each truck or car, make sure to update the account when it is out in the field and they could then be used for teasing stories that will air later or to create social media buzz around a story.

Technology is here to stay. Embracing it is going to only help us as journalists and the entire news industry.

Those are just some ideas I had but I would love to hear what you think? Let me know on Twitter @Lwalsh or e-mail, Lynn.K.Walsh@gmail.com. I truly believe the possibilities are endless.