This document provides resources and tips for journalists on using Twitter effectively. It discusses how Twitter can help journalists locate sources and eyewitnesses, get real-time updates on breaking news stories, crowdsource story ideas, and promote their work. The document offers advice on setting up a Twitter account, deciding how to use it, following relevant people, and engaging with other users. Examples are given of how journalists have used Twitter to report on stories like protests, traffic issues, and natural disasters. Ethical considerations around verification and separating personal and professional accounts are also addressed.

1. Twitter for Journalists @stevebuttry Gazette Communications Canwest News Service Jan. 20, 2010 #twjtips

2. Resources to help journo tweeps “Twitter tips for journalists” on my blog: stevebuttry.wordpress.com “Breaking news” and “Twitter”categories on my blog These slides (and other Twitter slideshows) at slideshare.net/stevebuttry #twjtips

3. How do you use Twitter? (and let’s ask my tweeps)

5. How @snolen uses Twitter. via @mathewi “Best reporting tool I’ve ever come across.” Needed photojournalist in specific region of India; Globe & Mail photo desk tried for a week w/ no luck; she posted on Twitter (@mathewi & others retweeted) & had photog in two hours Found a key source for story on Tamil Tigers

6. How Twitter helps journalists Quickly locate eyewitnesses & participants in breaking news Connect with sources, journalists Monitor community discussion, get story ideas Promote content Write tight (no lead longer than a tweet)

7. How do I get started? Open account Be sure to fill in bio, location, picture Decide how to use phone Follow some people Start Twittering

8. Twitter terminology Tweet, an update (noun or verb), up to 140 characters Tweeps, your followers Retweet, to pass on a link or thought (can be quote, paraphrase, starting point) Tweetup, a physical gathering of tweeps Fail whale, over-capacity graphic

9. What should I tweet about? Link to a new blog post, story, video, photo Retweet (with a comment) a link from a colleague Reply to someone from your community Tweet an unfolding story Tweet something insightful or funny

10. Linking with Twitter Use compressed links: bit.ly, tinyurl.com, is.gd, tr.im, etc. Write a headline or a comment; give tweeps a reason to click Credit

11. People to follow Look for sources (find people) Ask sources Journalists in other communities When someone follows you, check out to see whether you should follow back When you follow someone, check whom they follow Tweeps mentioned in interesting tweets

29. David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen “We had a two-month transit strike a year ago, and Twitter was useful for getting a feel for how traffic was moving in the early days, and then how things were going during the staged return to work.” Useful for “epic lineups for H1N1 vaccines. … These tweeps were a real force multiplier that gave us clues where to send our reporters to find the most important goings-on, and what questions to ask the Powers That Be.”

30. David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen “Word that a piano that was in a public space at a downtown grocery store had been taken away and replaced with shelves of potted plants for sale. People loved that piano and there’s been a minor firestorm since it was removed. It’s a real slice-of-downtown-life kind of a story, and something I wouldn’t have known about without one angry person’s tweet.”

31. Quakes show Twitter’s value Indonesia Twitter HQ Lists Location search Term or hashtag search

36. Examples from one day in Iowa Click trends Search hashtag #iagaymarriage @tdorman from Supreme Court, press conference @DM_in_the_PM from rally @dianeheldt from court

43. Twitter’s value in breaking newsnot happening in Iran, Haiti Emergency landing DC Metro crash @jkrums on Hudson emergency landing @2drinksbehind on Denver plane crash Fargo flooding

59. Twitter twists Tweetbeep & Tweetscan Interface w/other social media Publish2 TweetDeck, Tweetie, etc. Twitpic Lists, favorites, retweets

60. Ways to use Twitter Follow people on the beat (put their feeds on beatblog) Crowdsource (“Does anyone know anything about …?”) Story ideas (ask, monitor chat) Connect with eyewitnesses Drive traffic to blog posts, stories

61. Ethical considerations How do you identify yourself? Separate personal and professional Twitter feeds? How do you verify? What language is acceptable (WTF)? What, if any, opinions are OK?

63. Let’s check advice from the tweeps

64. Wrapping up These slides at slideshare.net/stevebuttry Follow me on Twitter: @stevebuttry Twitter tips, links to journalists & helpful resources on Twitter on my blog: stevebuttry.wordpress.com

65. Final advice From @mathewi (Globe and Mail): Don’t answer, “What are you doing?” Answer, “What am I thinking?” And from @stevebuttry: “What do I want to know?”