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Using Twitter for journalism
I know Twitter and its counterparts like Pownce aren't so much social networks as microblogging platforms, but it seems like a lot of people use them to keep in touch with friends, so I'll talk about them here.
Has anyone had success using Twitter for journalism, and how have they done it? To start off, I think it'd be a good way to highlight the best articles you write to people "following" you.
Has anyone had success using Twitter for journalism, and how have they done it? To start off, I think it'd be a good way to highlight the best articles you write to people "following" you.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Zac Echola on
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I'm getting together some links about this soon. There's plenty of awesome stuff you can do with twitter.
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Permalink Reply by Will Sommer on -
Cool, looking forward to it. So far I've just used it to tell my friends what I'm doing.
I can see a use as a liveblogging platform when having a computer is inconvenient, especially if you run the Twitter feed on a blog or newspaper site. For example, I was covering an anti-globalization march and wanted to Twitter it for the paper so people could be updated even though using a computer was impractical.
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Permalink Reply by Damon Kiesow on -
For more mobile away-from-the-computer goodness with Twitter - try it with Jott.com. The transcriptions are actually fairly effective and I have been considering ways to use this for a combination podcast/Twitter breaking news feed.
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Permalink Reply by Yoni Greenbaum on -
Just keep in mind that Twitter limits you to 140 characters and Jott limits you to 30 second, otherwise it would be ideal to use to do mobile posts to blogs.
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Permalink Reply by Damon Kiesow on
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Yes - clearly this falls under the heading of "breaking news less-than-briefs" but that is mostly what we are using Twitter for.
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Permalink Reply by Digidave on
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I recently got into utterz via Laura Fries (also in this network somewhere).
This was my first utterz. No text - but instant podcast.
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Permalink Reply by Andy Sternberg on
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I have picked up on many stories using Twitter before they've gotten to the MSM and in a couple situations -- gas explosions downtown, traffic, and fires -- this has given me a jump start on calling LAPD to confirm and post a news brief before most major print/radio/tv/online outlets do. We also follow the LAFD Twitter, which is one of many ways that they disseminate their breaking alerts to the public in concert with the media.
The most exciting Twitter phenomenon for me occurred a few months back when the Bay Area was hit with a moderate Earthquake. I must have read 50 Tweets about it before it even hit the AP. This is what it looked like to track "earthquake" at that time.
I'd like to see Twitter enhance 'tracking' capabilities for keywords -- I believe they no longer allow it. I'd also like to see location-based Twittering, whether by keywords, hashtags, or geotags -- eventually the tech would be there to attach general location info to the origin of the user's text message (if permitted by user). This would help local reporters in knowing who's eyes are open on the ground in the area.
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Permalink Reply by Yoni Greenbaum on
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I think there are many potential uses for Twitter by journalists that go beyond using it to push an RSS feed. Reporter could use it to cover meetings or as part of their paper's traffic coverage. One of the issues that I've encountered in discussing Twitter with journalists is that all too often they're quick to dismiss it without even trying it. My suggestion is that people give it a shot before writing it off. Who knows, they just might find that they like it.
A word on Pownce. While also considered a microblogging platform the emphasis there is more on sharing stuff. You will find that people share music, photos and even videos (pro membership allows you to share files up to 100mb). In addition, it's a great platform to organize a gathering among friends (who need to be members). If you wind up using it, look me up.
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Update: Pownce is now open - you don't need an invite (just happened today).
Pownce also has a different community - younger, more Digg-type people, Twitter is more silicon valley, older, wiser type peeps.
So: A music reporter might try Pownce, an education reporter - twitter.
Mantra: Go Where The People Are!
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Permalink Reply by Yoni Greenbaum on
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good point. I guess I'm already in my early curmudgeon years which is why it didn't grab me...
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Permalink Reply by Kurt Greenbaum on -
We DID use Twitter with traffic coverage, as Yoni suggests here. This has been blogged about elsewhere, but the Post-Dispatch recruited a dozen community volunteers to tweet about their experiences when a major interstate was shut down Jan. 2 for reconstruction. We fed their tweets to this page on Twitter -- and fed an rss feed of those onto several of the pages on our web site's special report page on the construction project. The page was lively for several weeks, but now, as people find their level and, frankly, the problems aren't as bad as everyone expected, it's started to die down.
I thought it was effective for our first foray into this, although doing it this way required me to get someone from Twitter involved, which was a bit time-consuming. Working on ideas to do something more akin to Jeff Jarvis' TwitCrit experiment -- and hopefully easier to set up than the Highway 40 thing.
By the way, got lots of followers on the Highway 40 thing in a fairly short time -- and a number of folks in the newsroom thought it was pretty cool.
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