How to stand out as a journalist on Twitter

How to stand out as a journalist
on Twitter
What leading anchors
should know about Twitter

About the presenter
Mallary Tenore
(@mallarytenore)
Managing director of Images &
Voices of Hope (@ivohMedia) a
nonprofit that strengthens the
media’s role as an agent of
positive change. Previously the
editor of Poynter.org.
Mallary Tenore, Images & Voices of Hope (ivoh)

Social media’s evolution

Why use Twitter (& social
media in general)?
Because it’s where our audience is.
• Twitter: 255 million monthly active users
• Facebook: 751 million monthly active
users
• Pinterest: 25.3 million unique visitors.
• Instagram: 150 million users.
Mallary Tenore, Managing editor

Who uses social media?
Pew Research Center

Getting news from social media

How can you gain more influence on
Twitter?

Unprotect your tweets

Make it easy for people to find you &
other staffers. Kare TV does a good
job of this:

Make it easy for people to find you on
your Twitter, Facebook

Create an effective Twitter bio (or
‘Twesume’)
• Think of it as a 160-character elevator pitch.
• Make it conversational, interesting.
• Use it to focus your tweeting.
• Give people someplace to go.

Twitter bios

Twitter bios: Good examples

If you’re stumped …
Visit Twitterbiogenerator.com (just for fun!)

Think of publishing as the start of a
process of sharing.
iStock photo

Tweet regularly
• Tweet out links to all of your stories.
• Set goals for yourself & measure the success
of them.
• Schedule tweets for off-hours – weekends,
nights.

Strike a balance between….
• Promoting
• Sharing
• Engaging
• Retweeting

When promoting, sharing &
engaging…
• Be authentic.
• Zig when others zag.
• Ask questions.
• Add value to the conversation & be
conversational.
• Follow smart people.
• Add visuals.

Add visuals to tweets

Add visuals to tweets
• Always ask: Would this tweet be better with a
picture?
• On average, tweets with images get a 35%
increase in retweets.
• One study found that tweets with images
uploaded directly to Twitter see 94% more
engagement than tweets without them.

Use hashtags & @ mentions
• Use hashtags to increase the chances that
your tweets will appear in searches.
• Use @ mentions to increase the likelihood
that people will engage with you & to give
them recognition.

Using @ mentions

Tweet out the same link in different
ways
• NPR recently tested out two types of tweets –
one with a straightforward headline and link
to a story, and another with a catchy quote
from the story, an @mention and a photo.
Notice the difference in the number of
retweets and favorites …

Experimenting with different tweets

The second tweet got a lot more engagement,
and is a reminder that it’s ok (actually, it’s
good) to tweet out the same link twice, so
long as you change it up.

• “Writing multiple tweets is a great way to
share content more than once. The people on
Twitter at 9 a.m. might be different than the
people at 1 am. Creating tweets also allows us
to include the names of reporters and blogs,
which will also help to increase audiences
beyond the main NPR news account.” ~ NPR’s
Lauren Katz

Retweeting

Retweeting
“Take retweets as seriously as you take writing
your own tweets. Make sure the links work
and that the content adds value to both your
feed and followers.” ~Elana Zak, Wall Street
Journal

Retweeting, commenting, sharing
• Make sure the content you’re retweeting,
replying to, etc., is actually what you think it’s
about.
• On April Fool’s Day, NPR posted a story that
generated thousands of comments and
shares. The only problem is, the story wasn’t
really what the headline said it was about …

Whoops!
Lesson: Read before retweeting, commenting,
sharing, etc.

Using Twitter when news breaks

Twitter can be a great tool for breaking
news …
… But you want to make sure you’re clarifying
people’s understanding of the news, not
confusing them.

Avoiding social media errors
• “Gabby Giffords is dead.” –NPR, CNN, Fox, NY
Times
• “Joe Paterno has died.” –Onward State, CBS
Sports, lots of other news orgs/journalists.
• “Bombing suspect has been arrested.”

Correcting errors on social media
• Errors spread farther and faster than
corrections. (It’s what Craig Silverman calls
“The Law of Incorrect Tweets”).
• Make an effort to make/share/spread
corrections as quickly as you can.

Building credibility on Twitter
• If you haven’t verified information, tweet
something along the lines of: “We’re aware of
the reports circulating, but haven’t been able
to confirm them yet.” Or send a couple of
tweets saying: “We are working on this story
and will tweet updates as soon as we have
them. Here’s what we do know.”
• Refer to your newsroom’s social media
guidelines/ethics.

Using Twitter to improve your writing
Twitter forces you to be concise; you
have to make every word count.
It can also be a good tool for reporting
what you’re observing …

Using Twitter to improve your writing

‘Concision takes precision’

Twitter story ideas
• Twitter is a good starting point for finding
sources, information and ideas. Still need to
follow up and do traditional reporting to make
sure that Twitter doesn’t become a
replacement for interviews.
iStock
photo

Twitter search
• Find local sources by using Twitter’s search
function: https://twitter.com/search
Find local sources by using the “advanced
search” function.

Use TweetDeck or HootSuite

TweetDeck and Hootsuite…
• … Make it easier to keep track of Twitter Lists,
notifications, followers and more. I find just
about all of my story ideas via the Lists I’ve set
up on TweetDeck. Lists enable you to see
tweets from specific people/orgs that are of
particular interest to you.
• You can also schedule tweets using TweetDeck
and Hootsuite.

Next steps
• Find ways to integrate Twitter into your
workflow.
• Set reasonable goals for yourself.
• Be a leader/coach for others in your
newsroom.
• Organize a training session.
• Experiment, experiment!

Thank you!
Email or call me with questions…
Mallary Jean Tenore
mjtenore@gmail.com
727.517.5489
@mallarytenore
@ivohMedia

How to stand out as a journalist on Twitter

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