I heart Twitter.
For those who don’t know what Twitter is, here’s the description the Web site gives:
“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?“
So basically, Twitter is saying what you’re doing at any given moment in time in a small space, which is then shared with the people who “follow” your updates.
At first, I wasn’t sure. It seemed kind of like a stalker tool.
But then I started using it. And I was surprised how easy it was to get involved in the online journalism world. It’s like mini, 140-character limited blog posts.
What I love about Twitter is what I love about the blogosphere, only enhanced: It’s a great opportunity to bounce ideas off of people, some more experienced than you, and get instant feedback. It’s having a conversation that everyone can see and join.
For instance, yesterday I asked “General opinion question: When interviewing teens/preteens for news features, should you get a parent’s permission?” I wanted to know for a story I’m working on. Within minutes, I had a few responses. It’s a really great opportunity to get different, professional points of view.
And in essence, that’s what I love and crave about journalism: The constant feed of ideas, opinions and information.
Twitter definitely has its tech issues. And, like any group of nerds, we have our lingo. But it’s easy to learn — get started, join the conversation and hope you don’t encounter the infamous “Fail Whale.”
My username is hilaryalehman for anyone who wants to follow me on Twitter (I also have an RSS feed in my sidebar). And some of the more active journalism users, to start you off, are jiconoclast (Patrick Thornton), jdasilva (Jessie DaSilva), jayrosen_nyu (Jay Rosen), bydanielvictor (Daniel Victor), ryansholin (Ryan Sholin), selfmadepsyche (Megan Taylor), and meranduh (Meranda Watling). That’s really only a sample. If you want to see a complete list of people I follow on Twitter, click here.
Which brings me to my next point. I’d like to introduce a weekly segment of my favorite journalism twitter of the week. So, drumroll, please:
Tweet o’ the week, July 18-25: jayrosen_nyu
6 responses so far ↓
Mike Plugh // July 25, 2008 at 9:15 am |
Great intro to Twitter. I think the key to Twitter’s success may be its limited reach. I can interact directly with Texas Congressman John Culberson (R) and tell him what I think is wrong about his thinking. I can communicate to 10 Downing Street directly and get an instant reply. Do you think any of those things would be possible if Twitter was as heavily trafficked as the rest of the Net?
We have fewer people communicating, so when we find a niche group talking about things we’re interested in, we have a far greater chance to connect, dialogue, and get something out of the experience than if our networks had 10,000 or 100,000 people in them, for example. If Twitter gets big enough it will die, I’m afraid. Something else will take its place. Just an opinion.
Leigh Ann - My Family Doctor Mag // July 25, 2008 at 4:19 pm |
Oooh, nice tweet o’ the week. (I got to this post through Twitter, actually–from your tweet about it.)
Some of my favorite Twitter journalists, FYI:
donna_nbc4i
jason_wcmh
nbcsquire
newmediajim
I wrote about my experience using Twitter for both journalism and publicity here. http://snurl.com/2lbbi
Thanks for the post. I love to hear other journalists’ experiences using Twitter. I heart it, too!
Leigh Ann Hubbard
Managing Editor
James Hubbard’s My Family Doctor
(on Twitter: FamilyDoctorMag)
Leigh Ann - My Family Doctor Mag // July 25, 2008 at 4:21 pm |
Er … I actually found it through the @twittes tweet. (Just looked again and realized it.) Retweets are awesome, eh?
Jessica Shumaker // July 25, 2008 at 9:45 pm |
Hilary-
I’ve been meaning to say “hey” since I started following your tweets…so, hey! I think I came across your site through another young journo’s site…but I’m glad I did. I know how you feel about being frustrated, but hopeful. I’m going into my senior year and I’m a journalism major as well.
It’s cool to find others who are in the same boat of trying to find a place in this industry.
Top Tweet o’ the week - Bush, Karadzic and Williams « These Digital Times // July 26, 2008 at 2:35 pm |
[...] by John Welsh NYU journalism teacher and blogger Jay Rosen makes it onto Hilary Lehman’s Tweet o’ the week in her blog Frustrations of a young [...]
Jason Preston // July 31, 2008 at 12:58 pm |
I agree with @Mike above – one of the real advantages in Twitter is the incredible signal/noise ratio that happens in an early adopter tool.
But I don’t think that the networks you build now will become irrelevant as Twitter grows – your list of “tweeps” can grow or shrink on command.
The other cool thing about Twitter is that it is also a platform, so you get things like Strawpoll that pop up randomly. Any newspaper can also tap into the API and build something on top of Twitter. Who knows what it would be? But the possibility is there.
Anyways, glad to have more journalists on Twitter! It’s a good thing.