These are slides for a webinar on using Twitter for journalism.

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?

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

19. Routine beat coverage
• Follow officials & agencies on beat
• Twitter Search (advanced)
• Hashtags (regular & spontaneous)
• Lists (Twitter, TweetDeck, HootSuite)
• Breaking news
• Crowdsourcing
• Liveblog (feeding in tweets)

20. Hashtags
• Regular hashtags
• Event hashtags
• Breaking news
• Humorous

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

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

34. Crowdsource

35. Connect directly

36. Find eyewitnesses

37. Key developments

38. Key developments

39. Tweet photos

40. Tweet photos

41. Tweet details, developments

42. Details from scene

43. Tweet quotes

44. Livetweet briefings

45. Livetweet action

46. RT other media

47. Be the source for news

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

55. Read more about it
• stevebuttry.wordpress.com
• slideshare.net/stevebuttry
• @stevebuttry
• zombiejournalism.com