More than any other social media, Twitter has had a profound effect on news. I personally was most looking forward to the SXSWi core conversation about this very topic. It didn’t disappoint and it’s a conversation every news director should be having with his or her newsroom.
This particular discussion featured some heavy hitters in the world of social media: GQ’s Ana Marie Cox, Brian Stelter of the NY Times and Brian Dresher of USA Today. They covered Twitter policies, Twitter branding and reaching out to readers or viewers via Twitter.
“Twitter is the two-way street that other things have not been like,” said Cox.
The panel agreed that Twitter has improved reporting. Stelter said it allows reporters to tap into the audience and, in turn, the audience helps with the story. The NY Times is allowed to use Twitter as a resource to find people for a particular story, however they are asked to do so in moderation.
Another topic that has been an issue of debate in newsrooms around the country is personal tweeting from a company account. Dresher said USA Today has a blogging policy which covers Twitter, since it is a micro-blogging site. Cox and Stelter said journalists just need to be careful and not go too far with personal tweets. They joked that it’s okay to way up early in the morning and delete a few things from the night before – before anyone else sees them.
The final key point was that Twitter allows journalists to represent the company brand. It allows them to interact with the community, build a fan base for their news organization and, in turn, engage a personal brand as well. It’s a win-win if newsrooms and journalists can carry it out correctly.
This core conversation was only 20 minutes long, but I feel it was the best 20 minutes of the entire SXSWi conference. This is a key topic to be discussed in newsrooms around the country. They can no longer afford to continue falling behind the curve.
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I never saw the point of using Twitter until I had to start using it for a class. Now I check Twitter before I make my rounds on the news sites because the information is so fresh. I think that Twitter is by far the most important social media tool for journalism students because it can be chock-full of useful information. It can be helpful to find story ideas and sources and is a powerful networking tool.
I wish I could have seen this panel to be able to better understand how professionals are using Twitter. To me it seems like they find it just as helpful as students do, as long as they don’t get too carried away after a night out.It would be interesting to know the contents of the dissappearing tweets by these social media gurus.
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I got a Twitter this summer because my mom had one and my mom doesn’t even know how to text so I figured if she could then so could I. It has helped me keep updated on the go on my phone about news and concert updates.
Twitter has also helped me to promote my boyfriends band and get info about my blog out there. It has shown me how fast news can travel and I don’t know how I survived without it! It’s part of my daily routine. Get on the bus to school check Twitter update my Twitter repeat!
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I don’t think I go five minutes without checking my Twitter stream. How sad is that? It has replaced the newspaper as the first thing I check in the morning and I suspect it’s that way with a lot of people.
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I made my first Twitter acct. to get credit in a class. I actually deleted it after the semester was over. I got tired of spam follower requests.
Then, I decided to make another acct. after I found out one of my favorite stores gives exclusive discount codes on their Twitter. Well, it didn’t stop there. I started following news organizations. It was the best decision I’ve made.
I found out about the Fort Hood shooting and Austin plane crash through Twitter — both about half an hour after the actual incident. It’s become very useful for me to keep tabs on current events.
I love that News 8 have an account dedicated to news organizations. It makes it 100 times easier to keep track of news from San Antonio to Austin. I think they made the right move.
I do agree that journalists represent the company brand. It can be tough for them to stay professional but it’s necessary. Twitter can definitely help companies.
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Twitter has done some great things for news and reporting, but there is still something strange about it. It is great to get fresh information, but at the same time, its dangerous. Cable and Network news are now battling to get the information first, and what is suffering is the quality. We get all this information, but do not know what to make of it. It seems we only care about the breaking news, folding out in front of our eyes, but we need to care about the validity of sources.
Most big stories that happen in the world, including the plane crash in Austin, I could have waited until reporters knew what the hell was going on. These new information mediums can have a way to instill the sensationalistic qualities that I have always hated about reporting. So I guess what I’m saying is that you can guve us new tools, but nothing will change with the final product of information. Still cant trust it.
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Here are my likes about Twitter: It’s easy to keep up with what my friends are doing. I can find out information from anybody anywhere as long as they have GO phone. This allows everyone to be a journalist
Here’s what I don’t like: I can’t stand the overload I get from twitter. I would rather they format the site as a list of all the people and organizations and only show their latest posting. That way if I spot something interesting I can click and just see everything that was posted before it. Instead, they have all the people I’m following in a giant mess on my homepage and the last 20 posts. What if I have one guy that won’t stop posting things and he runs my other people off the page?
Also, and this has to do with the journalism aspect, now that everyone is a journalist, everyone is buying for attention to their stories. I agree with Cambell above. It could bring back sensationalism that we’ve been fighting so hard to control.
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I definitely see the benefits Twitter has given. I follow CNN and the Austin Statesman, which help me stay connected when I can’t watch the news or grab a news paper.
I enjoy picking up the paper in the mornings and reading from something other then a computer screen, but the Twitter news is so much more accessible. This is especially true since our society is becoming so fast paced and we want our news and everything else right away.
Has Twitter made our reporters’ jobs easier, or harder? A lot of reporters have lost their jobs due to media taking over. I love Twitter and the benefits of fast news, but I could live without it if it means the employement rate going back up in the media field.
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Thank you for the wonderful post and I’m glad to hear that our panel provided such high value for you! We at USA TODAY very much encourage use of Twitter by our journalists as ways to interact with like-minded folks interested in their beat, curate news, provide details that perhaps wouldn’t make it into an article, promote events, and even share some personal details, if they choose.
We’re very mindful of perceptions that news orgs may strive to get news out first rather than get it right. Just like any other source of information from web sites, blogs, conversations, etc., we perform due diligence on the source before publishing.
Finally, we recently created our Social Media Blog, http://social.usatoday.com, so that others can learn what we’re doing at USA TODAY and how you can apply these key learnings for your use. One of this week’s posts was “11 Benefits for Journalists to Use Twitter.” Thank you again for the great post and your kind feedback!
Brian – Manager, Social Media and Digital Partnerships, USATODAY.com, @bdresher
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Thanks for the comments Brian! I truly appreciated the panel and wish it would have gone the full hour instead of just 20 minutes. Believe me, I went to some full-length panels that didn’t even need five minutes 🙂
As for the above comments, I think what Twitter has done is open up the reporting process. Viewers and readers are now seeing the behind the scenes stuff that they never knew about. You’re finding out as soon as something happens, as soon as a reporter gets on the scene, as soon as everything is confirmed, etc. Before, you only saw the final product on air or on print. So I think Twitter is fascinating in that respect.
Mike – may I recommend using Tweetdeck? You can set up a column with just the people you truly want to see and sort out all the accounts you follow.
Tisha – I used Twitter for about a year while in news and I know it definitely made our lives easier. For instance, need to find someone who is having a hard time paying their medical bills? Just send out a tweet. In just a few minutes you’ll have several people whose parents are in that situation or their neighbors, etc. Before Twitter, reporters used to drive around for hours looking for interview subjects. Also, Twitter gives you a good platform to get out information you wanted to include in your story but simply ran out of time. Those are just a couple of examples…
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I had heard about Twitter about a year ago but only recently made an account for a class. It is very useful for finding out news on the go and keeping up to date with the different organizations I’m involved in, but sometimes I feel bombarded by tweets that are of no importance to me. I used to say “I don’t need to know what people are doing 24/7” and I pretty much feel the same way now after having used it for awhile.
Don’t get me wrong I think that Twitter has done some amazing things for reporters and journalists and them being able to get minute by minute information about big events and stories, but besides being used for that purpose I don’t find it really necessary to see what people are up to all the time. I only check my Twitter account maybe a couple of times a week.
I can’t help but wonder whether newspapers and other forms of media will disappear with so many people getting their information from Twitter.
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Given the opportunity to partake in SXSWi, I would have made it a point to attend this panel. The “living under a rock” cliche is relevant to success Twitter has had reforming modern journalism. The thoughts and ideas expressed form a few leaders from the nations top news sources make me agree that this was the panel to be at.
Like it or not, Twitter’s platform is dominating social media markets. It’ll be interesting to see what’s next for Twitter and its competitors.
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I was also one of the people who hadn’t jumped on the Twitter bandwagon until my web design and publishing class required me to and I didn’t even really understand it or its usefulness until this past week at SXSW.
My friends and I found out about most of the events, shows, and free drinks we were interested in the entire week by using Twitter. It was the first time I had actually taken advantage of it and it really is a great way to know what’s going on.
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Citizen journalism is certainly on the rise with the advent of Twitter and other forms of blogging. Overall, I feel it is a definite advantage for mainstream news media, although I agree that it should still be used in moderation.
Eyewitness twitter reports are really no different than street interviews, only they’re more instantaneous and personal (people might hold back their true feelings when in front of a camera).
– Corey Zoller
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Twitter gives every person the chance to report on events, whether important or not, and is an major step in journalism as it enables the community to communicate without the media filtering stories. The fact that anyone can “tweet” causes the network media to stay even more up to date with reports. Competition in journalism across various communication outlets creates better reporting and faster dissemination of information.
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I created my twitter account for class and am just getting into using the new network. I don’t have a smartphone, so I’m not on twitter as much as I’d like to be. Still, I try to check it daily when I’m at my computer.
Twitter is a great tool to use, though. I have seen it used in pr campaigns, as a news source and so many other things. I wish I could have gone to this session.
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Twitter seems pretty vital, breaking apart these large factions of news providers. Sounds pretty grassroots. It is just the first step.
The other day in my Copy editing class I saw a picture of Joe Biden looking like a devil on the front page of a lot of newspapers. Though newspapers seem to be pretty neutral, I definitely feel there is underlying bias. Perhaps Twitter will break this apart. There are a lot internet savvy, bias, persons out there, however, I bet there are a lot more savvier people that won’t print smut. Or not. ITS THE GRASSROOTS NOW.