Seven days after his inauguration, Barack Obama held a closed-door meeting with the 178 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives. But what he didn't know is that while he was speaking, they were Twittering - posting real-time reactions to their online Twitter profiles. Michigan's Peter Hoekstra called Obama's first address a "very impressive session," while Texas's John Culberson called it "noble but meaningless." And any reporter reading their Twitter feeds discovered some surprisingly honest reactions!
It's just the beginning of a new phenomenon that will change the face of journalism. Twitter has already reached more than 5 million users, according to Forrester Research, and they represent more than just a new audience. It also presents a new tool for gathering information and reactions, and it's a surprisingly personal tool for online promotion. Newspapers are threatened by competition from online news sources, but Twitter offers a way to re-join the conversation. Here's some of the most effective ways that journalists can use Twitter.
Follow That Congressman
TweetCongress.org lists over 135 Congressmen who posting to Twitter accounts. (John McCain has nearly 600,000 subscribers, but the second most-popular is Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, with just 23,519.) The site graphs the growth in their subscribers over time, and offers statistics about their comparative popularity. But best of all, it allows searching for the profiles of local Congressmen, and shows how often they post.
This is just one example - but it offers two important lessons. Because Twitter is a new medium, it's still reaching a smaller audience. It's possible to find stories on Twitter which haven't filtered out to the world at large. And Twitter is a social medium - users can text to their profiles from a cell phone - so the updates are surprisingly candid. Because it's a new medium, the conventions are still forming...and inexperienced users will sometimes say more than they should!
Real-Time News Gathering
When an airplane crash landed in New York's Hudson river, it was Twitter that broke the news. Anyone in the vicinity witnessed the spectacular landing, and many of them instantly updated their Twitter profiles. Barely four minutes after the crash, there was an account from eye witness Jim Hanrahan, and another from one of the ferry boats rushing to the rescue. But it shows Twitter's potential for all major news events, transforming its users into crucial eyewitnesses.
Twitter's updates are available to the public, and there's a handy tool on its right side which will search them for keywords. Search results are displayed with the most-recent response first, so it's a great way to follow a breaking news story. But it's also handy way for sampling public opinion in real time. What are people saying about a topic or celebrity? Search Twitter to find out!
Promoting News with Twitter
Loyal readers want your stories just as soon as they're released online. Some outlets even create Twitter feeds that are dedicate to specific events - like incoming elections results or the medal winners at the Olympics. Every time they read one of your updates, it's subtly reinforcing their loyalty.
At the same time, official Twitter feeds have their limitations. Jack in the Box created a profile for their corporate clown mascot, but despite a tie-in with a massive Super Bowl campaign, it's still earned fewer than 10,000 subscribers. The biggest risk of a corporate Twitter feed is a lack of updates, or a message which is controlled too tightly. But there's also millions of personal accounts on Twitter, and collectively, they're a tremendous resource.
There's also some news functions that are completely unique to Twitter. It's possible to "tease" a story earlier, alerting people with juicy information even before the article is published. This allows you to claim credit for "breaking" the news first, even before your article has been published. It's a handy way to preserves the "scoop factor" if you know a competitor's story will be published before yours!
Informality and its Dangers
Because Twitter isn't an official "news" outlet, you might consider publishing more personal blurbs about your articles. This allows readers to feel they're seeing another side of you. It's expected that Twitter updates will be personal and even witty. But remember that you're still a journalist, and you're still responsible for every word that you write. An offhand remark on Twitter could come back to haunt you. That's why there's a "delete" icon - shaped like a trash can - when you hold your cursor to the right of the post!
And at least one news reporter used Twitter to prank online audiences. He posted a series of updates about the SXSW technology festival in Austin, Texas - from the comfort of his apartment in San Francisco! He later described the posts as a parody of the Twitter lifestyle, but it offered an instructive lesson. Anyone can say anything on Twitter, and it's difficult to verify their truthfulness. Twitter is great for gathering reactions, but the rules of journalism still apply. Contact the posters on Twitter before quoting them and determine whether their information is legitimate.
"Anything that's invented after you're 35 is against the natural order of things," novelist Douglas Adams once joked, hinting at the way technology can disrupt our world view. He added that "Anything that's in the world when you're born is considered ordinary and normal," and it's inevitable that future generations will practice journalism with different tools. Twitter has already racked up 5 million users, but more importantly, it's proved its potential. Journalists should learn to use it wisely, and consider it a preview of an exciting future that's just beginning.