Articles tagged “twitter”
Three newspapers that Twitter well
Tuesday, 10 February, 2009 — twitter journalism
Last week, I talked about flaws in how some newspapers operate on Twitter. As part of looking for counter-examples for that post, and picking up a recommendation from a coworker, I present three papers that Twitter well, in order of how well they represent how I would like a news organization to approach Twitter.
First is the Chicago Tribune’s @ColonelTribune. The Tribune apparently has what they term “unmanned feeds.” But the Colonel is where they shine. Namely, there are live people that embody the Colonel. How many, I don’t know, but that’s not important. What is important is, there’s personality. Sure, there are links to the news, but it’s in a conversational way. The Colonel feels “real.” Plus, what the Colonel chooses to link is definitely stuff people would be interested in. For instance:
A famous N. Side bakery has been closed for several health code violations. http://tr.im/fhvh
The Colonel isn’t afraid to retweet. The Colonel live tweets (as happened during President Obama’s prime-time press conference last night). The Colonel sends the reader away with links to local blogs and (as I saw today), the Sun Times.
Chase announces it will double its minimum monthly payments andcharge a $10 monthly fee for some customers. http://bit.ly/vQOX via @suntimes
Another nice thing? The Colonel will message followers with a word of thanks for a RT or via tweet of something the Colonel posted. This is supposed to be social media, and while it’s possible to get down right middle school with drama over who’s retweeting or not, it seems like news orgs default towards aloof. Right now, aloof is not the strategy to sustain the news industry. @ColonelTribune gets the balance right.
The second paper I’m highlighting is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (disclosure applies), @startelegram. One of my coworkers, @1918, brought them to my attention a couple of days ago:
I’d like to give a shoutout to my friends @startelegram, one of the few newspapers that seems to get twitter - they don’t just dump headline [sic]
What’s to like? It’s locally focused, it leans toward things that people want to know about, like severe weather, that traditionally, newspapers seem to do their best to ignore. TV stations can go overboard with Doppler porn, but I still like knowing when and where the weather’s coming. This is ideal:
http://bit.ly/14sMt Latest on tonight’s dallas-fort worth weather: bad stuff coming between 8 and 10 pm
I also like that there’s no fear about not being “objective”:
So ARod says he did it. Does anyone in Texas really care what he says anymore? http://bit.ly/RHCr
This is what a lot of people want to see with their hometown paper, a willingness to show some emotion. Not writing about emotions in clinical terms. To have them. There’s also a tweet about some of the top stories for tomorrow. None of it’s overbearing or worked to death.
My final paper is The Oregonian, @oregonian, the first paper I recall coming across when I joined Twitter. In contrast to @ColonelTribune and @startelegram, this feed is a headline dump. But it’s smarter than your average bear. The tweets are headlines, and headlines only. They stand alone as complete tweets. @oregonian also respects followers by posting at a reasonable pace. Tweets can be separated by 20 minutes or 23 hours. That’s really a nice choice. Music wouldn’t be music without space between the notes (hat tip, Debussy).
So, I submit, when a paper wants to take Twitter seriously, these are three solid examples of what can be done.
Other reading to consider in the context of newspaper twittering:
- My friend and remote coworker, Marc Matteo, submits “Newspapers could actually try online,” in which he laments that, for many papers, there still isn’t a good online strategy.
- Rands talks about the three design decisions behind Twitter and their implications. Decision number three, with a twist: Newspapers shouldn’t get a karma boost on Twitter just for being there.
Understanding and addressing automated Twitter feed flaws
Tuesday, 3 February, 2009 — twitter journalism
It was about halftime during the Super Bowl when I saw a score, via Twitter from The Sacramento Bee:
Steelers lead 3-0 in first quarter of Super Bowl http://tinyurl.com/dxp4j7
A day or so ago, I got a flood tweets from the News & Observer, like this one:
Live Nation ticketing a rough start: If you tried to buy Jimmy Buffett tickets online when they went on sale Sat.. http://tinyurl.com/a9vwuk
What frustrates me – as a reader, not an employee – about these specific tweets, is it shows some newsrooms aren’t completely grasping Twitter’s promise. I’m frustrated as a result.
First, “breaking news” needs to be breaking. Timely and relevant. If we’re not seeing the first quarter score until halftime, I’d rather do without. Twitter can simply be informative. Links are nice, but not required. If there’s not a specific story to link to, how about just tweeting the score? If a link is a must, link to a scoreboard. Either way, don’t hold information back from Twitter because the story isn’t ready yet.
Second, please drop Twitterfeed. When a large batch of stories publishes, anyone following that Twitter account gets link-bombed. Just dumping content to Twitter misses the opportunity to build interest for stories since interesting stories get buried under an avalanche of content. But it’s worse than just that. In the N&O example, the tweets are incomplete. The tweets seem like songs ending on bad notes because they’re headline and lede pulls, not something tailored for Twitter’s format.
This isn’t to say automated feeds are all bad. They aren’t. Consider, though, limiting what gets pushed to the feed, then tailor the headlines into something tweet-worthy. There’s a balance to strike that benefits both Twitter and the regular website, since some story index pages aren’t going to have the lead paragraph, just a headline.
So, “Live Nation ticketing for Jimmy Buffet concert off to rough start,” is not only a better, web-friendly headline, it’s a complete tweet. Add a URL, and it’s golden.
Still, just rewriting headlines misses the point. Get the staff involved with the twitter account. Set up section or topic accounts. Ask questions. Answer questions. Reward readers for following the Twitter account instead of passively consuming the RSS feed. See @ColonelTribune for a hint of what a paper’s social engagement via Twitter could look like.
Red Robot as a problem solver
Thursday, 29 January, 2009 — triangletweetup twitter design
I like Red Robot’s problem solving. Not in his typical CRUSH ALL HUMANS sort of way, but in how John Rees solved a problem with Red Robot. In a shop full of ThinkPad users, going away for lunch and then coming back, it’s rather difficult to tell which laptop is yours. I’ve seen the same difficulty with MacBook Pros, too. John solved the problem with the Red Robot/Exploding Dog laptop cover. Looks slick, too. Total win. (Update: GelaSkins is where John says he got the cover.)
John, 5x5 and I were one of a hundred or so people at Edge Office for the first Triangle Tweetup of 2009. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with a large group, but it’s worth getting out to meet folks face-to-face, largely because you learn little tidbits, make connections and generate ideas.
- Check out the rest of my Triangle Tweetup set
- The #triangletweetup stream
- Triangle Tweetup on Flickr