Tools and tips for journalists and reporters using Twitter.

1. Twitter For Reporters
Seattle SPJ/ONA || 13 February 2012
@kegill

10. 1. Tweet More
• Understand the rules of your newsroom
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/complicating-twitter-and-
journalism-11082011.html
• Recognize that your personal “brand” may be
more important to you (long term) than the
brand of your news organization

11. 2. Be conversational
• Talk to people (but remember you
are publishing with every statement)
• Ask questions (in general or directly)
• “Be yourself”

12. Develop stories
• Crowdsourcing: ask community for ideas or
information
• If you ask someone a question in email or in
person, figure out how to ask the question
publicly on Twitter (or FB)

13. Develop relationships
• Ask who to follow
• Follow opinion leaders on your beat
• Follow public officials on your beat
• Follow other journalists on your beat
• Then talk to them. ;-)

14. 3. Listen
What, exactly does this mean?

15. #hashtags may be
more important
than individuals

16. Tools To Monitor #hashtags
• HootSuite.com (iPhone app)
• Nearbytweets.com
• Topsy.com
• Trendistic.com
• TweetDeck
• Twitter Search

18. HootSuite : GeoLocation

20. Topsy : email, RSS

25. Breaking News
• Storify
• CoverItLive
• ScribbleLive
• Embed individual tweets or a group of tweets
into a story using QuoteURL or Blackbird Pie.

26. Verify! Verify! Verify!

29. Other Tools
• Twitter Lists
• Paper.li
• Directories: twellow.com
• muckrack.com
• dev.twitter.com/media/newsrooms
• Twitter -> email: twe.pe

30. Resources
• Twitter tips for journalists, Steve Buttry
• How should journalists use social media, Nick
Kristoff
• The new baseline skill set, Steve Yelvington
• On Twitter, neither a Luddite nor Biltonite be.
Simply be human, Alex Howard

31. Credits
• Kathy E. Gill, @kegill
• Creative Commons : attribution, non-
commercial, share-and-share alike
• Resources at http://wiredpen.com/