Twitter Workshop for Journalists

Twitter

Facts
Short messages (no more than 140 characters)‏
Like IM, Facebook status, SMS, e-mail, group chat
Seven million registered users in February 2009
1,300 percent growth year over year
BusinessWeek (50), NYT (30), Guardian etc.
42 per cent of users are between 35-49 (at work)‏

Twitter Growth

What is it for?
Simple, flexible tool – so difficult to define
What is email for? What is the telephone for? It’s a tool
Trivial or mundane, but also thoughtful and useful
Not “What am I doing?” but “What am I thinking”
Follow interesting people, find interesting things
Yes, it has a stupid name – but so does Google

When you hear people criticizing it, try replacing the word Twitter with the phrase “talking to people,” and see if the criticism still makes sense.

What can I do with it?
Short thoughts, a link, a request for info, a comment
Ability to connect directly with readers, potential sources
Promote our content and get others to do so as well
See what is being talked about (Mumbai, earthquakes)‏
Pushes traffic to our content (There Will Be Blood)‏

How do I do it?
Follow people, post a message, then...
Check @replies and direct messages
See who follows you and others, then follow
See a discussion and contribute to it
Share a link, or “re-tweet” someone else
Search for topics, people, discussions

Who's on it?
@mathewi
@sashaglobe
@hartleyglobe
@mattfrehner
@snolen
@dougsaunders
@markmackinnon
@giantflyingcarp
@brodiefenlon
@carolynireland
@globecampus
@globebooks
@globeinvestor
@globebusiness
@misterjohndoyle
@andrewgorham
@nestruck
@activeverbs
@amyverner
@pwente

Things to think about
You have to give something to get something
A blend of the personal and professional
In a grey area between private and public
Everything is searchable and can be captured
Beware the impulse to flame someone

What tools are there?
Twitter.com, m.twitter.com (basic)‏
Tweetdeck, Twhirl (desktop)‏
Power Twitter, Tweetfox (plugins)‏
Twitterberry, Dabr (mobile)‏
Twitscoop, Tweetscan (search)‏
Tweetgrid (filter, aggregate)‏
Backtweets, Retweetist (search)‏
Bit.ly, TinyURL, Is.gd (shortening)‏

The bottom line
Just a tool (with a dumb name)‏
Can help you find people, sources
Can help us promote our stories
Conversational, thoughts and links
Experiment with it (Ian Brown)‏
Don't dismiss it without trying it

Five Barriers to Journalists Using Twitter http://sarahhartley.wordpress.com/2009/02/15/five-barriers-to-journalists-using-twitter/
Top Twitter Tools for Journalists http://savethemedia.com/2009/03/27/top-twitter-tools-for-journalists-2/
The Ultimate Guide to Twitter http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/the-ultimate-guide-for-everything-twitter/
The ROI of Journalists and Twitter http://danblank.com/blog/2009/02/20/the-roi-of-journalists-and-magazines-using-twitter/
How Journalists Can Use Twitter http://markmedia.blogs.com/markmedia/2009/02/how-a-journalist-can-use-twitter.html
Tweeting the Future of Journalism http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2009/01/30/twittering-away-standards-or-tweeting-the-future-of-journalism/

http://mysite.verizon.net	1424
http://planeta.wikispaces.com	321
http://jenruby09.wordpress.com	219
http://www.niemanlab.org	207
http://www.mathewingram.com	170
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk	68
http://reportr.net	46
http://sitebuilder.verizon.net	37
http://www.dirkvongehlen.de	29
http://hijodelmedio.blogspot.com	19
http://www.espritblog.com	17
http://www.slideshare.net	16
http://olago.wordpress.com	16
http://blog.tvider.com	12
http://www.eandppub.com	10
http://www.jacconline.org	10
http://webblog.nlb.gov.sg	7
http://nm09.blogspot.com	5
http://horaciogaray.wordpress.com	5
http://www.hijodelmedio.blogspot.com	4
http://advocacytwopointzero.blogspot.com	2
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1
http://blog.ohmynews.com	1
http://www.google.com.pk	1
http://drop.io	1
https://remote.globeandmail.ca	1
http://wildfire.gigya.com	1
http://convergencia.lanacion.com	1
http://www.netvibes.com	1
http://74.125.93.132	1
http://predicate.tumblr.com	1

Twitter Workshop for Journalists

by Mathew Ingram on Apr 01, 2009

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Twitter Workshop for Journalists — Presentation Transcript