Utilizing Twitter as a Media Professional
Twitter can be a useful tool for a journalist. When a story breaks, it quickly trends on Twitter and Twitter users can often read a news story before it reaches more traditional news platforms. Twitter is most commonly used on smartphones; this means that users are able to share content instantly, whether they have an asinine opinion about a celebrity or they are the eyewitness of an international news story.
When flight 1549 splashed down in the Hudson River, Manhattan, Twitter user Jim Hanrahan was able to share the event only four minutes after the incident occurred. Jim’s tweet was retweeted by other users and the news quickly spread throughout twitter and to other social media sites like Facebook (Jim’s tweet was only retweeted once which I find a bit strange and it kind of ruins my point (wtf)). As a journalist, Twitter can be used to find sources and eyewitnesses of recent events and secure rights to use photos taken at the scene.
Trends and #Hashtags
Hashtags allow users to label their tweets as being in regard to a particular topic. When the offices of the unfunny satirical comic, Charlie Hebdo, were attacked earlier this year, five million sympathetic Twitter users showed their solidarity with the Hashtag, #JeSuisCharlie. When a Hashtag is used by many Twitter users, it is said to be trending and can be found listed on the Twitter homepage; when a user sees a trending Hashtag that they want to read more about, they can click it to see a list of tweets with news and opinions on the topic; hashtags can also be searched for. Hashtags are valuable to a journalist who wants to know what people are talking about the moment they start talking about it; Twitter is the medium of the vox populi.
Twitter Vs Facebook
Twitter differs from Facebook in that users follow strangers and communities of interest, not just friends. Twitter can therefore be used to develop a professional community. Potential employers will use Twitter and other forms of social media to learn about you so it is advisable to maintain a professional veneer.
Twitter Tips
Twitter is a valuable source of contacts for a journalist and so it is important to maintain an active presence on the site by tweeting regularly about your covered topics in a friendly and informal tone.
Following users who post content that is relevant to your covered topics will help to expand your professional community.
Audience interaction is a useful way to become more influential in your professional community; this can be achieved by retweeting content that is of interest to you, mentioning users who your content might be relevant to and asking questions while upholding a friendly and informal tone.
Including media elements will make your Tweets stand out and more likely to be read, favorited and shared.
Tweets are limited to 140 characters, it is important therefore to be concise and not try to make too many points in one post.
Twitter is busiest at breakfast time, during lunch breaks, at the end of the working day and later in the evening; content posted during these times will therefore gain most exposure.
Third-party apps like Youtube, Instagram and Twitpic integrate with twitter making content from these sites easy to share.
Twitter users are able to create lists which group users depending on the type of content that they post; in this way, a feed relevant to a particular topic can be created.
Writing an interesting bio for your Twitter account is an opportunity to let potential followers know briefly what kind of content you post. If other Twitter users are impressed by your bio, they are more likely to follow you.
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