Twitter for

Journalists

9 March 2016

Tweet: Each individual message. Limited to 140 characters.

Retweet (RT): Sharing someone else’s Tweet with your followers.

Feed: The stream of Tweets from people you follow.

Handle: Your username.

Mention (@): A way to reference another user by his username in a tweet (e.g. @macleay). Users are notified when @mentioned. It's how you converse back and forth publically.

Direct Message (DM): A private, 140-character message between two people. You may only DM a user who follows you.

Hashtag (#): A way to denote a topic of conversation or participate in a larger linked discussion (e.g. #madeatmacleay). Hashtags are a way to search Tweets based on specific topics.

Twitter Language

2.8m active Australian Twitter accounts as of June 2015

7.2m Australian Tweets are sent every day

40% of Twitter users are looking for news

Peak Twitter usage time is during morning and evening commutes, and on the hour.

Who’s Tweeting?

Leverage your contacts

Add your Twitter name to your email footer.

Fill out your profile and send a few Tweets (even if no one sees them!) before you go looking for followers.

Use the search function to find your tribe. No matter how obscure your interest, you’re not alone.

Dive in! Start following and interacting with others.

Building Your Following

Play nicely! Remember, this is a public forum and even a deleted Tweet isn’t really deleted.

Don’t clog the feed – space your offerings across a day.

Remember this is “social” media. Don’t be afraid to show a bit of personality.

Have some dignity – don’t beg for retweets or follows.

Curate your feed – share Tweets and info that your followers may find interesting.

It’s not all about you. Ask questions, compliment people, say thank you.

Tweets with photos usually perform better than text only. Make your photos relevant.

Clickbait style Tweets trade long term credibility for short term reward.

Etiquette & Best Practice

One story could feed 20 or more Tweets. ◦ Tweet the quotes, the opening, a summary◦ Ask your followers a question or their opinion on the content◦ Share a detail not covered in the story◦ Tell the story behind the story

Post a link to the same story multiple times – each time with different wording / angle.

@mention the subject(s) of your Tweets (but don’t do it at the start of the Tweet or only you and the subject of the @mention will see it).

Tweet Your Piece

Follow your areas of interest – stories often break on Twitter before the mainstream news outlets.◦ Hashtags◦ Specific accounts

Be careful – information may not be verified. Twitter may be the source of misinformation or can debunk it. Is there an opportunity to engage eye witnesses?

Finding Ideas and Sources

Twitter lists – There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Look for pre-existing Twitter lists at www.electoralhq.com

You can create your own Twitter lists and either keep them private or make them public. A public list can be good for your profile / credibility.

Use the Advanced Search function to search by:◦ Time◦ Location◦ Keywords

Follow the news makers, ie. if you’re interested in food and wine, follow the restaurants / bars, reviewers, influential bloggers, festivals, relevant publications.

Finding Ideas and Sources

Crowdsourcing Your Ideas

But Do It Carefully….!

Recent introduction is a curated feed split into sections.

Designed to give you a quick overview of trending topics.

Suggests Twitter is wanting to look more like other mainstream news services.

Moments

Twitter Analytics ◦ Follower demographics

Gender, location and interests of your following◦ Tweet performance

When is the best time for your Tweets to gain maximum exposure? Compare link to same content with different wording

Scheduling websites◦ Allows you to schedule a full day’s content (or longer) in one sitting.◦ Can save custom feeds, ie. sorted by a Hashtag.◦ You’ll still need to drop in to participate in conversations. Don’t dump and run!◦ Hootsuite and Tweet Deck are popular choices.

Analysing & Scheduling

Questions?