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Q&A about Twitter
A few weeks ago, I announced that I would attempt to set up Middletown Press newsroom staffers with Twitter accounts. We would then provide training and open a discussion about the usefulness of Twitter. The training is ongoing, and this discussion is open to anyone in the community. You are welcome to leave a comment or ask a question below, or answer any of the questions posted if you come up with additional or better answers than the ones I've provided.
During the first sessions we've had in the newsroom, I've documented the questions people had and tried to provide the best answers I could find.
Thanks to Chris March at the New Haven Register, Ivan Lajara at the Daily Freeman in Kingston, N.Y., and LeeAnn Moran at The News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio, for helping provide some of these answers.
What is Twitter?
A micro-blogging and social media service where users can send out messages limited to 140 characters.
Why do I need to learn about Twitter?
It is a quick-growing tool for the media industry (and many other industries). For us, using Twitter can help grow our audience it can help reporters grow their sources and their knowledge about the communities they cover
What do I tweet?
You can tweet about anything you think people will find interesting. As a reporter you can tweet about what you are working on for the day, you can tweet questions to your followers, and send out links to your stories. (But try not to tweet about what you had for breakfast)
How often should I tweet?
As often as you’d like, but at least once a day. When sending multiple tweets, try not to send them all out at once, but instead spread them over a few hours in order for people to have a little time to digest them
How is Twitter different than instant messaging, Facebook and email?
Your Twitter posts can be seen by everyone who follows you, and anyone who decides to go to your Twitter feed. Instant messaging and email is usually just peer-to-peer communication. Twitter is similar to the status updates on Facebook, but it does not give anyone the option to “like” or comment specifically on what you said. Instead, they have a chance to send you a tweet or direct message back if they wish to comment
Should I set up a "protected" account or an open account? What's the risk of having an open Twitter account?
For our purposes at work, you should have an open account so anyone can follow your tweets. With a protected account, each person who wants to follow you is subject to your approval first. As with anything you post on the internet, you should be careful about the amount of personal information you post. Therefore, we discourage posting your exact location (unless you are tweeting about an event you are covering for the newspaper), tweeting your home address, what hours you leave work at night, etc.
Who should I follow?
People you find interesting, and people related to the towns you cover, the topics you write about. You should also follow your colleagues – and don’t be afraid to interact with each other via Twitter (retweet each other, answer questions, etc.)
How can I reach people that aren’t following me or already reading my website?
By using hashtags. If you tweet about a specific topic like education or politics, or about a specific person like Charlie Sheen, simply put this symbol # in front of the word you think will draw interest. At the Press, we use #Middletown, #Cromwell and #Portland as hastags, for example, to draw in local readers
How do I create short links? Why should I create short links?
Since you only have 140 characters, you need to shorten a link when posting it to Twitter or just the URL will eat up all the space you have available. You can use sites like tinyurl.com or bit.ly to shorten links. If you use programs like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, they will shorten the links for you.
How do you expect me to manage all these things while trying to do my job?
You can use a program called Tweetdeck, which runs in the background on your computer and new messages will pop up as they come in, kind of like when you get new emails. The key thing is to just work in Twitter to your regular workflow – it should not be something you do at the end of your day “because you had to.” If you do it right, you can have a lot of fun with it.
Here's a presentation on Twitter from LeAnn Moran:
Twitter 101
And here's a video from Ivan Lajara on how journalists can use Twitter:
During the first sessions we've had in the newsroom, I've documented the questions people had and tried to provide the best answers I could find.
Thanks to Chris March at the New Haven Register, Ivan Lajara at the Daily Freeman in Kingston, N.Y., and LeeAnn Moran at The News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio, for helping provide some of these answers.
What is Twitter?
A micro-blogging and social media service where users can send out messages limited to 140 characters.
Why do I need to learn about Twitter?
It is a quick-growing tool for the media industry (and many other industries). For us, using Twitter can help grow our audience it can help reporters grow their sources and their knowledge about the communities they cover
What do I tweet?
You can tweet about anything you think people will find interesting. As a reporter you can tweet about what you are working on for the day, you can tweet questions to your followers, and send out links to your stories. (But try not to tweet about what you had for breakfast)
How often should I tweet?
As often as you’d like, but at least once a day. When sending multiple tweets, try not to send them all out at once, but instead spread them over a few hours in order for people to have a little time to digest them
How is Twitter different than instant messaging, Facebook and email?
Your Twitter posts can be seen by everyone who follows you, and anyone who decides to go to your Twitter feed. Instant messaging and email is usually just peer-to-peer communication. Twitter is similar to the status updates on Facebook, but it does not give anyone the option to “like” or comment specifically on what you said. Instead, they have a chance to send you a tweet or direct message back if they wish to comment
Should I set up a "protected" account or an open account? What's the risk of having an open Twitter account?
For our purposes at work, you should have an open account so anyone can follow your tweets. With a protected account, each person who wants to follow you is subject to your approval first. As with anything you post on the internet, you should be careful about the amount of personal information you post. Therefore, we discourage posting your exact location (unless you are tweeting about an event you are covering for the newspaper), tweeting your home address, what hours you leave work at night, etc.
Who should I follow?
People you find interesting, and people related to the towns you cover, the topics you write about. You should also follow your colleagues – and don’t be afraid to interact with each other via Twitter (retweet each other, answer questions, etc.)
How can I reach people that aren’t following me or already reading my website?
By using hashtags. If you tweet about a specific topic like education or politics, or about a specific person like Charlie Sheen, simply put this symbol # in front of the word you think will draw interest. At the Press, we use #Middletown, #Cromwell and #Portland as hastags, for example, to draw in local readers
How do I create short links? Why should I create short links?
Since you only have 140 characters, you need to shorten a link when posting it to Twitter or just the URL will eat up all the space you have available. You can use sites like tinyurl.com or bit.ly to shorten links. If you use programs like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, they will shorten the links for you.
How do you expect me to manage all these things while trying to do my job?
You can use a program called Tweetdeck, which runs in the background on your computer and new messages will pop up as they come in, kind of like when you get new emails. The key thing is to just work in Twitter to your regular workflow – it should not be something you do at the end of your day “because you had to.” If you do it right, you can have a lot of fun with it.
Here's a presentation on Twitter from LeAnn Moran:
Twitter 101
And here's a video from Ivan Lajara on how journalists can use Twitter:
Labels: idealab
posted by The Middletown Press at
11:43 PM
1 Comments:
Care to comment on the horrible state of the Middletown Press website?
I can understand the need to moderate comments. You might consider instead using an established commenting system like Disqus or Intensedebate. Both have far more advanced moderating features and don't require captcha.
What is far worse is the recent additions of deliberate, unavoidable pop-up advertisements. These may get you more clicks for advertising, but they make the site horrible to navigate. It is now entirely frustrating to view the website from an iPad or other mobile browser because of the way the site forces the spawning of new windows.
The autoloading videos that start with 15 seconds of advertising are further unwelcome. If your goal is to drive your readers to Patch, you are well on your way.
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