Graphics | Video | Social
Graphics | Video | Social
RECENT UPDATES
FlexClip
Free web-based video maker for creating and editing.
Runway
AI-powered video editor.
Resound
AI-powered podcast and audio editor. Great for removing extra words.
Steve.ai
Create animated videos using this free AI tool.
StockIMG.ai
Create stock images, illustrations, logos, etc. using AI.
VIDEO | GIFS
Wirewax
Create interactive videos.
Type Studio
Video creation tool where you can edit the words in the transcript and it will trim the video.
Descript
Video creation tool where you can edit the words in the transcript and it will trim the video.
Lumen5
Social media video editing tool has several pricing tiers but the free version works just fine for journalists.
WeVideo
Video editor, screen recorder, meme-maker, green screen and more. Good for editing social video and has templates for Facebook and TikTok. Plans start at $5 a month but it has a free trial.
Kapwing
Free and simple online video editor. Think Canva for video. Simple to add subtitles to videos, turn articles into social media, combine clips together, edit recordings, and turn audio into video (or vice versa).
EasySub
EasySub is an automatic subtitle generator that provides the most refined automatic subtitles and free subtitle translation on the internet. It helps journalists transcribe audio and video faster, and can perform simple video editing, providing functions such as adding watermarks, modifying video resolution, video format and background color.
Genial.ly
Great interactive video and other multimedia through the templates in this desktop app.
Recast Studio Online Video Editor
Recast Studio is a cloud based online video editor that will help journalists to create and repurpose text, audio or video into dynamic social videos.
Free and Paid Video and Audio Editing Software
Both desktop and mobile tools. Complied by Ted Gutsche.
Munch
Uses AI to repurpose video content for social channels and more
Genially
Create interactive videos, charts, maps and presentations.
Synthesia
Create Free AI videos from this browser-based tool.
Jitter.video
Create simple motion graphics in this browser-based tool. Good for story posts and social media.
Steve.ai
Create animated videos using this free AI tool.
Runway
AI-powered video editor.
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
Journalism.co.uk: Eight Tips to Edit Your Video to Perfection
Jeremy Caplan’s 10 Useful Tools for Visual Productivity
Journalism.co.uk: How to Find Free Music for Your Next Video
Reel
Tool lets you create audiograms from podcasts. Share video snippets of your episodes on social media and grow your audience with Reel.
How to Search Closed Caption Text on YouTube
SnipClip
Screen-recording tool
VIDIZMO
If journalists have exclusive stories or video recordings, then they need to securely store them. They can store videos in this secure video platform. It is great for securely sharing video, audio and image files on an end-to-end encrypted platform.
Mojo App
Templates to create Instagram Stories and other social channels.
ClipChamp
Free in-browser video editor, compressor and converter.
EZGIF
Convert images and videos into GIF files
Videvo.net
Free stock video and audio
Mazwai
Free stock video
One Image Music Video
Combine audio + image to make video
Stabilizo
Stabilize shaky videos
Switcher Studio
Augment your videostream
Streamyard
Augment your videostream
Deep Nostalgia
You can animate old photos with this tool but be careful with news photography and deep-faking. Remember ethical guidelines when editing/altering photos.
Zamzar
Browser-based video file conversion tool.
Descript
Audio word processor. Good for transcribing audio from interviews. First 30 minutes are free and paid after that. Also does podcasting, video editing and more.
GIF Rocket
Create GIFs from any video.
Panopto
Create and manage video learning content.
Facebook Video Downloader
Be careful with copyright issues.
Soundslides
The audio slideshow tool is back with an upgraded HD version.
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
Squoosh
Drag an image into this browser-based tool and compress it in seconds.
OBS Open Broadcaster Software
Free open-source software for video recording and livestreaming.
RenderForest
Online video and animation maker.
GetVideoBot
Tag a video with @getvideobot and they’ll download a link to the video. Beware of copyright on video, though, and get permission to reuse the video.
Downloader Bot
Tag a video or GIF with @downloaderbot and they’ll download a link to it. Beware of copyright on video, though, and get permission to reuse the video/GIF.
What You Need to Know: Embedding Video
ProCreate
iPad app for drawing and animated videos. Very popular among illustrators. Runs about $10.
Unscreen
Allows you to remove backgrounds from videos. Be careful with this tool ethically as you must label any photo or video an illustration.
WatchFramebyFrame.com
Can be used to play YouTube and Vimeo videos frame by frame, to see any inconsistencies in content.
VideoLAN
VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It also assists in helping you download YouTube videos. Free, no spyware and runs on all platforms.
Tips to Make Your Zoom Presentations User-Friendly
IJNET: How to Create GIFs for Use in Journalism
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
GRAPHICS/DATA
Knight Lab Publisher’s Toolbox
Timeline JS, Storymap, Juxtapose and more.
TimeToast
Free timeline creation tool. Post and share on web.
TimeGlider
Build timelines with this online tool.
Font Joy Font-Pairing Tool
A free, browser-based tool that matches fonts that work well together.
Google Earth Timelapse
Track changes over 32 years to environment, city, region.
Excalidraw
Free drawing tool that lets you build cool charts.
Coolor
Color schemes generator.
NPR Lunchbox
Build text cards with this free browser-based tool.
TNW: Tips for Creating Social Video Content
Muzli: 10 Video and Graphic Creation Tools
Resound
AI-powered podcast and audio editor. Great for removing extra words.
StockIMG.ai
Create stock images, illustrations, logos, etc. using AI.
Essential Visualization Tools for Mapping
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
Crowdmap
Helps you collect data from web, cell phones, etc., aggregate it and visualize it on a map.
Ushahidi
Open source code for interactive mapping.
Video: Tutorial on How to Use BatchGeo with Google Maps
Mapperz Mapping News
A blog about mapping.
Data Miner UK
Site helps you develop ideas for data-based online journalism projects.
Infogr.am
Build infographics in this free, easy-to-use browser-based tool.
Humaans
Create royalty-free illustrations with a variety of skin tones, body types and backgrounds.
Easel.ly
Build online infographics.
Pic Monkey
Browser-based photo editing tool.
Blush Illustrations
Add editable illustrations to your stories.
Visage.co
Build cool infographics.
Google Moon
Zoom in on areas of the moon. Works in browser or in Google Earth. Use images on your site and credit Google.
LucidChart
Build imbedded flow charts for free.
Gephi
Open source graph visualization tool.
Mashable: Web Typography 101
Breakdown of web-safe fonts.
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
30 Free Data Visualization Tools
The Noun Project: Free Icons
Over a million curated icons, created by a global community.
R for Journalists
Tips and resources for anyone using R in data reporting
InterviewJS
Turn interviews into shareable, embeddable interactive chats.
Juice Analytics: Data Viz Design Principles
Zeemaps
Cool mapping tool. Add photos, video, text, etc.
SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
Note: This collection of tools came from several journalism instructors’ contributions to the ONA Educators Facebook page.
Social Blade
Track user stats for YouTube, Twitch, Instagram and Twitter to get a deeper understanding of user growth and trends.
Data & Society: How to Investigate Social Media Accounts
A .PDF guide of great tools and tricks.
Pablo: Engaging Social Images in 60 Seconds
Create cool social media images with text. Great tool.
Social Image Resizer Tool
Resizes an image to fit various social media sites.
Social Media Keyboard Shortcuts
Great list of keyboard shortcuts for Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Yomapic
Location search for Instagram and social network VKontakte.
Journalists and Publishers on TikTok
A list/mini app from Jeremy Caplan.
Digital Forensics: Using Social and Online Tools to Find Great Stories
Video from an ONA ’19 conference panel with great tools and tips.
Remove bg: Remove a Background from Images
Friend or Follow
A helpful database for tracking Twitter followers and to track who’s following you.
ThreadReaderApp
Combines Twitter threads into one readable page.
Gramfeed Instagram Search
Great tool. You can search by people, hashtag, location, etc.
Botometer
Checks the activity of a Twitter account and gives it a score based on how likely the account is to be a bot. Higher scores are more bot-like.
GetVideoBot
Tag a video with @getvideobot and they’ll download a link to the video. Beware of copyright on video, though, and get permission to reuse the video.
Downloader Bot
Tag a video or GIF with @downloaderbot and they’ll download a link to it. Beware of copyright on video, though, and get permission to reuse the video/GIF.
Graphika
Develop detailed maps of social media landscapes.
Gramfeed
Lets You Search Instagram.
TwitterFall.com
Track trends on a specific topic or newsmaker.
Monitter
Great for tracking trends on a specific topic or newsmaker.
A Journalist’s Guide to Web Scraping
Sprout Social: Guide to Social Media Image Sizes
Wavve.co
Turn podcast or musical audio into engaging animated videos to share on social media.
Over app
iPhone or Android app that layers text over photos.
Pablo
Very simple layered graphics.
Adobe Creative Cloud Express
A suite of Adobe apps such as Photoshop, Spark Video, etc. Create graphics, social videos and much more.
Jitter.video
Create simple motion graphics in this browser-based tool. Good for story posts and social media.
Mojo App
Templates to create Instagram Stories and other social channels.
Venngage
Good infographics maker with many social platforms templates.
Landscape Social Media Image Resizer
From Sprout Social, this tool resizes an image to fit a social channel specs.
Promo Free Image Resizer
Similar to Landscape from Sprout Social, you can drag an image into this browser-based tool and resize images to fit various social platforms.
2019 Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet
Squoosh
Drag an image into this browser-based tool and compress it in seconds.
EZGIF
Convert images and videos into GIF files
Reel
Tool lets you create audiograms from podcasts. Share video snippets of your episodes on social media and grow your audience with Reel.
Deep Nostalgia
You can animate old photos with this tool but be careful with news photography and deep-faking. Remember ethical guidelines when editing/altering photos.
Training Video: Canva Video Editor for Beginners
November 2021 training video for updated Canva video editor.
For more training videos, visit our YouTube page.
Phoetic
This iOS app is a word cloud generator. Turns photos into visual word clouds from whatever words you choose. Good for social graphics
AlternativeTo
Type in a name of a piece of paid software and the site will give you a free alternative. Example: Type in Photoshop and it will give you a list of free, browser-based photo editors such as Fotor.
Remove BG
Remove a background from an image quickly with this free browser-based tool.
Type Studio
Video creation tool where you can edit the words in the transcript and it will trim the video.
ProCreate
iPad app for drawing and animated videos. Very popular among illustrators. Runs about $10.
Zamzar
Browser-based video file conversion tool.
Recast Studio Online Video Editor
Recast Studio is a cloud based online video editor that will help journalists to create and repurpose text, audio or video into dynamic social videos.
GetVideoBot
Download videos posted to Twitter by tagging this account in the replies. Make sure you first have permission from the account/video owner to use it.
Downloader Bot
Tag a video or GIF with @downloaderbot and they’ll download a link to it. Beware of copyright on video, though, and get permission to reuse the video/GIF.
Journalism.co.uk: Eight Tips to Edit Your Video to Perfection
Wochit
This short-form video editor lets you use your video clips or pull from a library (including music). Great for layering text in this browser-based tool. Great for creating social videos.
Tweetroot
Create word clouds off Twitter hashtags on this phone app.
Evernote Skitch
Capture and edit photos editing photos on this free desktop or mobile app.
Little Card Editor
Twitter or Facebook card images.
IJNET: How to Create GIFs for Use in Journalism
PicMonkey
Phone photo editing app with text layering capabilities.
Headliner.app
This tool lets you make social media videos for free. It also allows you to export audio from video, transcribes it and drops it into video as a caption.
Cleanup.pictures
Edit things out of photos quickly with this browser-based tool
Creating Effective Social Media Graphics for Journalism
Yomapic
Location search for Instagram and social network VKontakte.
ClipChamp
Free in-browser video editor, compressor and converter.
Fotor Background Remover
An AI background remover can automatically remove image bg in smooth cut out way without any manual work. It helps edit pictures–journalists need photo editing tools.
FilterGrade: Seven Mobile Apps for Graphic Design
The Fix: How to Easily Turn All Your Articles into Audio Articles
NPR Social Media Graphics Guide
NPR built this killer guide to types of social media graphics you can design using Photoshop and other tools.
Venngage: The Ultimate Guide to Designing Epic Social Media Images
Venngage page offers many great tips.
How to Get the Most Out of Twitter’s Analytics Platform
Foller.me
A Twitter analytics application. Very useful.
Video: The Rise of Social Media Through the Years
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