News media using Twitter on the rise

By Angelo Fernando on July 15th, 2009 In Best Practices

This is not just about reporters tweeting –by gosh, a lot of them do– but about how it’s suddenly quite the norm to quote people in stoires based on their tweets.

I was glad to see Channel 12 today, putting out the question: “If you are stuck in the traffic on I-17 & Sunset Point send a picture to connect@12news.com. #phx” It went out via a tweet at 1.40 pm

Traffic was closed in both directions due to a bush fire.

If you’re facing similar questions I have been, such as senior execs ask me for good examples of why this is not a fad, here’s a good one to point to: A Poynter story about a reporter using Twitter to provide insight.

News media using Twitter on the rise

Comments

Tyler Hurst Says:
July 15th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

Live tweeting during unplanned events is a fantastic use of social media. Sure, it’s kinda one-way, but it certainly doesn’t have to be.

Marketing Sociologist Says:
July 15th, 2009 at 4:34 pm

A week ago I put a question on Twitter becoming THE communications tool on LinkedIn. The answer from “PR Experts” was that it is a fad, too soon, not viable.

Yesterday a bank was robbed in New York City. A Twitterer made national news for reporting it http://marketingsociologist.blogspot.com/2009/07/twitter-becoming-news-source-on-spot.html

Since February, Twitter has gone from the 400th most popular site according to Alexa to the 10th. Doesn’t seem a fad or too soon to me http://marketingsociologist.blogspot.com/2009/07/pr-people-say-twitter-unimportant.html

When you’re getting millions and millions of hits per day, when will PR people wake up – the day of press releases are over.

Two years ago I was thrown out of offices for saying companies needed a MySpace and YouTube presence. In that two years, Facebook and Twitter have overtaken both those.

As my college professor the late Tony Hillerman advocated, “Stay current.”

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