1. Mastering Twitter
for Journalism
Steve Buttry
Ontario Community Newspaper Association
March 13, 2013
2. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• stephenbuttry@gmail.com
• zombiejournalism.com
3. • Many more users • Great for breaking
• Much info private news
• Tougher to search • Great real-time
• Not as immediate search
(less frequent • Engagement not as
updates) intrusive
• Engage, don’t • Hashtags help w/
intrude search, conversation
4. Reasons to master
• More people in your community read
Twitter than you think
• They’re younger than newspaper readers
• Produces content for your website
• Powerful search function (find sources)
• Changes your newsroom culture
• Twitter rocks on breaking news
5. Building followers
• Tweet often
• Find & follow local people
• Be conversational
• Livetweet events
• Give more than you ask for
• Be yourself
6. Finding people to follow
• Use local search to see who’s tweeting
• Save searches for community names
• Check followers of newsroom account
• Check followers (& follows) of local
tweeps
• Check followers of people who RT
• Who follows agencies, people on beat?
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15. Breaking news tips
• Tweet unfolding story
• Use advanced search (location & not)
• Find & connect w/ eyewitnesses
• Each has only part of the story
• Use hashtags
• Verify, verify, verify (& correct quickly)
16. Breaking news tips
• Tweet photos, videos
• Check tweets of news figures in story
• Feed your tweets into site w/
ScribbleLive, CoverItLive, Liveblog Pro or
Twitter widgets
• Curate social media reporting, response
• Retweet (possibly w/ questions)
17. Vetting & verifying
• Track back RTs, etc. • Links, photos?
to source • Take it old school
• Look for clusters • Disclose, hedge,
• Location enabled? repeat
• Evaluate the network • Be brave only in
• Evaluate the history correction
Tips from Craig Silverman, Regret the Error
18. Evaluating tweeps
• How long have they been tweeting?
• Check previous tweets, interaction
• Check bio, links
• Check Klout score
• Google name and scam, spammer
• Contact & interview
Tips from Mandy Jenkins, Zombie Journalism
21. Hashtag tips
• Use existing hashtag if there is one
• Search before launching hashtag (avoid
duplication)
• Look for secondary hashtags, especially
in events or breaking news
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25. Time management
• Don’t drink the whole stream
• Integrate Twitter into your day
• Tweet a few times a day
• Check “mentions”
• Use lists, alerts & saved searches
• Use mobile device
• TweetDeck, HootSuite
26. Organizing chaos
• Use Twitter lists
• TweetDeck & HootSuite help organize
• Check @ mentions
• Twitter alerts
• Save regular searches (can be columns in
TweetDeck, HootSuite)
27. Live-tweeting prep
• Get names (confirm spelling), titles in
advance (ask, get program, etc.)
• Set scene, saying what you’re covering &
that you’re live-tweeting
• Describe your circumstances, vantage
point: at event, watching on TV, curating
tweets (Andy Carvin)
28. Live-tweeting tips
• Don’t transcribe; observe & report
• In sports, mix play-by-play & commentary
• Use hashtag (& check to respond)
• OK to pause for checking facts, names
• Note significant pause (halftime, lunch)
• Fun interludes, exchanges, anecdotes
• Check facts before you hit “tweet”
29. Live-tweeting situations
• Trials
• Meetings
• Sporting events (curate w/ public tweets:
Friday Night Tweets)
• Festivals
• Breaking stories
• Remember to feed live-tweets into site
30. Crowdsourcing
• Use Twitter, Facebook, website, paper
• Say what you know or have
• Say what you need
• Invite people to tell their stories
• Search as well as casting net
• Be careful about repeating rumours
48. People to follow
• Look for sources (find people)
• Ask sources
• Journalists in other communities
• When someone follows you, check out to
see whether you should follow back
• When you follow someone, check whom
they follow
• Tweeps mentioned in interesting tweets
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55. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• zombiejournalism.com
Notas del editor
We’ll also discuss the Denver plane crash that Mike Wilson survived and how the media missed an opportunity by not using Twitter.
If I have time, I’ll use the next several slides in a discussion of how Bill Doskoch used Twitter on a routine (and amusing) daily story.