Tweeting the News

* The views conveyed by the journalists are their own and not necessarily the opinions of their employers.
Twitter has moved into the news media faster than you can say, ‘tweens tweeting Twilight,’ but as the relationship between Twitter and journalism undergo its formative years, we ask is it useful to journalists and audiences? Simon Nicholas gets tweeting.
We live in a social age, I bang away at the key board, Twitter rolling by like credits, ‘friends’ zooming through on Facebook, mobile rattling; and all this while I write on my blog, listen to up-and-coming musicians on Myspace, tee-up coffee on Facebook, while communicating and staying informed on Twitter. Where once upon a time cumbersome social relationships involved dropping over, or, god forbid, calling a friend, now a plethora of instantaneous social networking programs have become available for us to use. This networking culture has transcended into the news media, with social media playing an increasingly important role in how audiences consume news. Accordingly, it has become crucial for journalists to have a presence in this new social media landscape. But is this new relationship between news and social media meaningful, or is it further fuelling our ever shortening attention-spans?
As newspaper sales decline and the shift to online news continues, many are unsure about the future of traditional forms of journalism. “Everything is in a state of flux,” says Nic Christensen, journalist for The Daily Telegraph, Twitter user and self-proclaimed political geek, “but I’m optimistic.”
“It’s changing because the desire for digital media is expanding. It’s changing the way we sell a story by making it more interactive” he said.

Original illustration by Bryce Collins
Twitter is increasingly becoming the most dynamic and engaging way for an audience to interact with the news. Not only are readers consuming and interacting with news through Twitter, but they are breaking through the fourth wall and communicating personally with journalists, creating a unique and dynamic relationship between reporter and audience.
Twitter was conceived in August of 2004, but it wasn’t until 2009 that it made any substantial developments within the news media; the US elections and the death of Michael Jackson proved to be the coming of age for Twitter in the US. Come 2010 and Twitter has grown exponentially in Australia, with journalists, celebrities and politicians taking full advantage of this new form to communication and interact with their audiences in a new and exciting ways.
However, it has taken some getting used to for some journalists, as they come to terms with the new medium.
“I think at first the companies saw it as bit of a threat that their journos were out there on Twitter,” says Wendy Fitzgibbon, online news editor for The Daily Telegraph.
“Now they see it as giving their journos a bit of an edge over their competitors, enabling them to have a more personal relationship with their readers.”
But it hasn’t been without its growing pains, as celebrities, journalists and politicians test the waters, and discover the balance between personal and public opinion and identity. Twitter has found its fair share of headlines and scandals in 2010, with Stephanie Rice causing public outrage after tweeting “Suck on that f--gots” following the Wallabies narrow victory over the Springbox in September, resulting in her major sponsor, Jaguar, to withdraw their support. Earlier in the year, comedian and then-columnist for The Age, Catherine Deveny, posted numerous offensive tweets throughout the Logies, including “I do so hope Bindi Irwin gets laid,” and “Rove and Tasma look so cute ... hope she doesn't die, too.” These reckless, careless comments resulted in her being sacked by the newspaper.
A similar incident occurred when Asher Moses, online technology editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Brisbane Times, posted comments on Twitter sympathizing with Mathew Johns during the A Current Affairs interview involving the sex scandal, which exploded in May of last year. “So Matthew Johns’ career is over because a slutty groupy had consensual group sex with him and his teammates 7 yrs ago and now regrets it?,” Moses Tweeted. He quickly deleted his post and apologized for the wording, but it was too late, and several media companies had already jumped on his comments and attacked his credibility as a journalist.
“If you’re not prepared to have it written into a news story, then you shouldn’t write it on Twitter” says Moses reflectively.
“Now I’m quite bland in terms of what I write on Twitter. I try to avoid outing any personal views, or any political views. I think it’s a bit sad that you can’t really give your own personal views on this online world.”
But aside from a few ugly instances, Twitter has had a remarkably positive presence within the journalism world.
“Twitter is in the frontline of real-time news” declares Turo Uskali, journalism academic from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.
“Twitter is my number one news feed filter”
Journalists are using Twitter as a multi-functional tool to engage with their audiences, promote stories and brands, and as a means of research for information and sources.
Some reporters are finding it usful as a search engine, crowd sourcing for activity or collective interest, for potential stories and leads.
“Twitter is almost like a stream of consciousness where you can monitor what people are saying. It’s quite helpful to gage public opinion like that” says Shoba Rao, social media coordinator and manager at The Daily Telegraph.
Fitzgibbon agrees noting, “I certainly wouldn’t use it as a one and only source but I think it can be a helpful starting point.”Wendy
Christensen recalls several occasions when Tweets from other journalists have tipped him off to a story he may have otherwise missed, “on more than one occasion I’ve been able to go to my chief of staff with a breaking story that we might have missed but another journo on twitter has tipped us off”
Fitzgibbon says that Twitter can be helpful if she is tipped off about a breaking story but doesn’t have any information. She can use search Twitter and see if any witnesses are posting information about the event.
Christensen finds similar value in the micro-blogging service, telling me of a riot last week that he was called out to investigate. “We didn’t know what we were turning up to and it was useful to search on Twitter and find people who’d seen the brawl.”
The riot occurred after a large crowd, formed to jeer on a fight between four women, turned on police who were forced to fire capsicum spray into the violent crowd.
Christensen finds Twitter most useful to connect with other journos and politicians; “I use Twitter to network with other journos, talking about ideas, debating ideas, talking about stories, talking about what is happening in the media. I would argue that this is much more important than having individual one-on-one conversations with readers.”
Moses comments that Twitter can be a great way to search for leads and sources; “It’s definitely a time saver when it comes to finding people who are affected by certain issues.”
“It’s a good way to put you into contact with people that might have information on the topic” Fitzgibbon says.
Embedding Twitter feeds within a news media is becoming a popular way of engaging with audiences. It is becoming increasingly popular within most forms of media, for instance Q&A, the ABC television program, have a Twitter feed embedded at the bottom of the screen, showing tweets from viewers voicing their opinion on the topic. Radio also include Tweets in alot of their stories, but it is online media which have taken advantage of Twitter to the fullest.
Fitzgibbon says that she often includes Twitter feeds within her stories “so while people are reading they can see up to the minute stuff that people are saying.”
But is Twitter affecting the way in which journalists report? Is Twitter encouraging a shallow form of reporting which encourages poor journalism and miniscule attention spans? Is Twitter a one-stop-shop for cheap journalism?
“I think Twitter’s just another tool,” Fitzgibbon says. “
“Nothing, in my mind, can replace actually getting out there and working your sources. You still need to get that colour from being there and seeing it with your own eyes. It’s a way of getting a quicker and easier start on a job, and in online journalism time is such a crucial factor”
“I think it’s fine if you use Twitter as a starting point to get a lead,” says Moses “but it’s definitely not enough to build a story upon. “
One of the most exciting and innovating elements about Twitter is the way in which readers can interact with journalists.
“I think people want to be more involved, I don’t think they want to sit there on a website, clicking on something and having a one-dimensional relationship,” says Fitzgibbon.
“I think they want to be part of the news, rather than a reader and a member of the audience.”
“Twitter allows the reader to directly contact the journalist, give them feedback and have more of a say in the news process,” says Moses, “and I think it’s good for readers.”
Through mobile technology and the enculturation of Twitter, people are able to interact more than ever with the news. Increasingly, citizens are engaging with journalism by filming or taking photographs of news events, and commentating about them on Twitter. This is building a foundation of citizen journalism which reporters can use as sources and leads.
Not only are readers becoming included and involved in the construction of news, but journalists and readers are now often communicating on a very personal level. This is creating a dynamic reader-reporter relationship rarely seen before. Many journalists, particularly within television media, are beginning to encourage viewers to follow them and continue the conversation via Twitter. Sandra Sully is an example of how Twitter is becoming mainstream, as she communicates with her audience on a multi-faceted way.
In the future more journalists will join Twitter in an attempt to humanise themselves to their audiences, and gain trust and loyalty from them.
As Twitter become increasingly prolific within the news world, Uskali predicts that the role of the journalist will change from a news gatherer to news flow manager and editor, in what he describes as ‘the twitterization of the news.’ This is not to say that reporters will no longer gather news, but that twitter will change the way in which journalists construct a story.
But not everybody holds the same value on the revolutionary powers of Twitter.
“It’s just one tool of a bag of things journalists use, I don’t believe for one moment it’ll revolutionise journalism,” said Chestensen.
“There are some people starting to use Twitter meaningfully, take Lorie Oakes for example, but even then, he only has 10,000-20,000 follower. Then you look at the publication The Daily Telegraph or The Herald and you’re looking at somewhere between 800, 000 to a million readers. It’s not a huge readership, it’s still very much a niche audience, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That’s just the way Twitter is constructed.”
But while Twitter isn’t a major influence within the news just yet, recent surveys are showing growth and promise that in the future Twitter will play an increasingly more important part in news media. An online study released by Nielsen Online in February of 2009 showed that the largest single group of Twitter users, making up 42%, were between the ages of 35-49, and that the average Twitter user is two to three times more likely to visit a news website that than average person. In fact users over the age of 55 exceeded users aged 25 to 34. So Twitter is not a platform for vampire crazed adolescents as the miss conceptions would have you presume, but a forum for news savvy adults; and figures are only suggesting that this audience will grow over coming years, with a 400% growth in 2009 alone.
News producers and journalists are flocking to Twitter as they realise its potential as a news gathering and distributing tool.
“News Limited and The Daily Telegraph have decided that Twitter is part of our media focus. We have decided to come onboard and support Twitter as a genuine form of communication with our audiences” says Fitzgibbon on the future of Twitter.
“I think Twitter will only continue to grow, but it will emerge into something different. I don’t think the Twitter we know today will be the same in a year’s time or 5 years time” says Christensen.
Twitter is a collective stream of consciousness, a minute-by-minute, second-by-second, publication of our zeitgeist. It encourages conversation between audience-and-audience, reporter-and-reporter, audience-and-reporter, and reporter-and-audience communication, and this is truly a ground breaking phenomenon. It is a forum where communities can form and communicate, and this is can never be anything short of helpful.
In the future, as digital news becomes more and more mobile via phone technologies, we will begin to see what Alfred Hermida describes as “ambient journalism” in which news surrounds individuals and is consumer steadily, in a osmosis- peripheral like fashion. Twitter is the front runner for this form of journalism.
Journalists will have an increasing presence on Twitter and audiences will continue to interact with them in a dynamic and personal way.