Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog » Twitter

#soe09: Live coverage online – opportunities for audience and money?

Laura Oliver — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:35:17 +0000

The benefits of using social media sites, predominantly Twitter, to cover live news events, newsgather and let the readers in were stressed by speakers from Sky News, Trinity Mirror, NWN Media and Northcliffe in a session at the Society of Editors conference today.

Sky’s social media correspondent (once titled ‘Twitter correspondent’) Ruth Barnett explained what had been learned since her role was created:

“We’d be very foolish as journalists not to be part of this interaction (…) I use it as a newswire – not one as valuable verifiable and reliable as PA, but as a good source of leads, eye witnesses and trends.

“If we can tweet our own breaking news it allows us to be proud of it, own it and direct traffic back to us.”

But there’s more to come: Trinity Mirror multimedia head David Higgerson emphasised the need to work with the audience to improve the use of tools such as CoveritLive.

“The big lesson that we need to learn is that we need to involve the audience more. If people want more passive coverage we’ve got the BBC, which is not to be critical of the BBC, but it can be hard to interact with it,” said Higgerson.

There needs to be experiments with livestreaming video into liveblogs, he added, and newspapers should start looking at the potential of tools like Audioboo. There’s no reason Audioboo, for example, couldn’t be used for more in-depth reporting, such as livecasting election results, he explained.

But the biggest challenge is finding a way to work with the ‘army of citizen journalists’:

“We need to go to them and our reporters need to be building relationships with them. If we can engage with them on local terms we can create a potent force for live news.”

But it was Hull Daily Mail editor John Meehan who suggested that liveblogging and live-tweeting could be a revenue opportunity for news groups:

“If paid content on the web is part of our salvation we have an obligation to develop services that go far beyond news and traditional reporting (…) It used to be paid-for live coverage in print (…) Covering it live on the web, real-time and interactive, may be one of the keys to earning revenue from content published online,” said Meehan, who used the Mail’s coverage of transfer deadline day in September as an example (500 posts on CoveritLive by journalists; 6,200 comments received on all-day liveblog).

“We’ve got no plans to make them pay for it, but I think we as an industry should have an eye on where we can make money from. If that many people are going to spend that much time on a service, they really value that service (…) Mainstream news is a commodity; we need to find the things that aren’t commoditised.”

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The Media Blog: What’s the value of a journalist that Twitters?

Laura Oliver — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:25:58 +0000

Chie Elliott looks into the relationship between journalists that use Twitter and the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe) results for their respective titles in this post.

“Media people are using Twitter as an instrument for sharing and crowdsourcing, for networking and live-reporting. A journalist with a popular blog or social media presence can only be positive for the publication’s brand. If Twitter is a waste of work time, time has never been so well wasted. Furthermore, if a journalist is creating content while simultaneously publicising the content carrier, isn’t that doing two jobs for the price of one?”

via The Media Blog: Are journalists who tweet value for money?.

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Malcolm Coles: Growth of newspaper Twitter accounts running out of steam

Malcolm Coles — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:07:51 +0000

This is a cross-post from Malcolm Coles’ personal website. You can read other posts by Coles on the Journalism.co.uk Editors’ Blog at this link.

UK national newspaper Twitter accounts are continuing to grow – but at an ever slower rate, according to the latest figures for the 130 accounts I’m tracking:

July to August growth: 17 per cent
August to September growth: 17 per cent
September to October growth: 13.1 per cent
October to November growth: 8.3 per cent

The detail
These 130 accounts had 1,801,811 followers on November 2, up by 137,568 from 1,664,243 on October 1. Of that increase, 95,007 (or 69 per cent) was for the @guardiantech account (which benefits from being on Twitter’s suggested user list).

(NB – the Telegraph seems to have deleted its badly spelled @TelegraphScienc account, so I’ve restated October’s figures to be for 130 accounts, rather than the 131 I used to track).

The biggest mover was @MirrorFootball, up 11 places to 81st (from 455 to 809 followers), suggesting the Mirror is finally making some use of Twitter (most of its other accounts are near the bottom – and only appear to have moved up a place because of the demise of the Telegraph’s Science account).

As ever, the full spreadsheet is here or you can see the iframe below.

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Comment: Raw nerves and healthy debate over the new ‘Twitter mob’

John Mair — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:08:05 +0000

It is good to be a pioneer and start a healthy debate. I did just that with my Journalism.co.uk article on the ’smart and not so smart mob’ all of two weeks ago.

That short opinion piece focused on the row over Jan Moir and her Daily Mail article on the death of Stephen Gately and the subsequent mass complaints (over 22,000) to the Press Complaints Commission.

It hit a nerve. A raw nerve in the case of Suw Charman Anderson who accused me of just ‘not getting the point’ of swift internet social movements. The piece was categorised ‘Fuckwittery’. No bias there then. The followers on her blog echoed her sentiments.

But then others joined in: Stephen Glover in his weekly column on the media in the Independent on October 25 talked of hate in the blogosphere and whether it was a good or bad thing. His view was the latter. His conclusion? ‘The Jan Moir case would seem to show the internet, which is supposed by many to enhance pluralism and democracy, being used by some outraged members of a lobby to challenge the traditional right of free speech’.

Fellow hack Joanne Geary weighed in three days later with an intelligent and measured piece in her blog about her disquiet on online protests. Her piece was thoughtful and thought-provoking and has elicited some very sympathetic responses and comments. No wonder Roy Greenslade describes her as ‘that most enterprising of newspaper bloggers’. Read that debate. It is measured and rational and open.

More nationals were not far behind, Jon Henley in the Guardian with ‘The power of Tweets’ (October 31) about the new mob from which the paper had reaped much benefit in the Trafigura case; a Stephen Armstrong piece in the Sunday Times, ‘An online mob. On the internet retribution is swift’ (November 1). The great Nick Cohen joined the discussion in the Observer. The debate was and is out there.

But will the Twitterati ultimately eat themselves? At the weekend, the best known of them all, Stephen Fry, announced he was quitting Twitter after being insulted by a fellow Twitterer, then got on a plane to Los Angeles.

As he was airbound, the cyber-storm (he has close to a million followers on Twitter) erupted over his head pleading with him to rescind. The crowd cried for him to come back to Twitterland. He did from LAX.

Let the online debate continue.

John Mair is a senior lecturer in broadcasting at Coventry University. He is a former BBC, ITV and Channel Four producer. He is the incoming chair of the Institute of Communication Ethics.

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#FollowJourn: @Dr_Black/Tech academic and online campaigner

Judith Townend — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:30:29 +0000

FollowJourn: Sue Black

Who? Head of Information and Software Systems at the University of Westminster/campaigner for Bletchley Park.

What? Behind the campaign to save Bletchley Park/founder of LondonBCSWomen in 1999 and BCSWomen in 2001, organisations which provide support for female IT professionals.

Where? @dr_black and Sueblack.co.uk. Also on Linkedin and Facebook.

Contact? Via her contact page.

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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Two lists featuring UK journalists on Twitter

Judith Townend — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:38:11 +0000

PRBlogger has updated its UK journalists on Twitter list and FleetStreetBlues has done a thorough job at this link.

Remember you can follow Journalism.co.uk’s daily ‘FollowJourn’ recommendations at this link:

http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/category/recommended-journalists/

Please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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Jay Rosen’s top 15 journalism linkers

Judith Townend — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:21:34 +0000

NYU professor and Twitter ‘mindcaster’ Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) kindly included @journalismnews in his list of 15 top journalism and media linkers, and we’re in fine company:

As yet, only the five per cent of users who have the Twitter ‘lists’ function can see the original selection, but it’s available via FriendFeed at this link…

“If you’re among the 5 per cent of users who have ‘lists’ turned on, here’s my list of the top 15 journalism and new media linkers: @lavrusik, @journalismnews, @paulbradshaw, @ksablan, @romenesko, @cressman, @jeffsonderman, @macloo, @mediatwit, @dangillmor, @GregMitch, @BenLaMothe, @stevebuttry, @mathewi, @NiemanLab - Jay Rosen.”

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WebProNews: Twitterers want news links, suggests ad network survey

Laura Oliver — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:45:10 +0000

WebProNews reports on a survey by online ad network Chitika, which studied its users and found that (based on a sample of 973,661 impressions across the Chitika network) 28 per cent of links shared on Twitter went to news sites.

When compared with the results for older social sites, such as Facebook, ‘the value and perception of Twitter’s speed become more obvious’, says the ad network.

Full story at this link…

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Jon Bernstein: 15 news men and women you should follow on Twitter

Jon Bernstein — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:05:48 +0000

Naturally this is an entirely subjective list, but I’ve tried to inject some logic into it.

So it only includes individual, not group, feeds. I’ve also gone for social Twitterers rather than the Twitter-as-RSS brigade (you know who you are).

And, by and large, I’ve stuck to ‘mainstream’ news people rather than some niche news people, which obviously means excluding some great twitterers especially in the media and tech space. Oh, and it’s UK-only.

Finally, I went crowdsourcing among a portion of the Twitterverse before I compiled this list, so some of the entries are the very excellent suggestions of others.

So in alphabetical order:

1. Benedict Brogan

aka: @benedictbrogan

who: chief political commentator, Daily Telegraph.

why: One of the best journo bloggers around comes to Twitter. News, gossip, analysis.

typical tweet: Consternation inside the BBC at decision to interview Martin McGuinness outside the Grand, I’m told.#lab09

2. Nicky Campbell

aka: @nickyaacampbell

who: presenter, BBC radio and TV.

why: Mix of news, radio behind-the-scenes and real life.

typical tweet: Shelagh says “I developed my lip gloss habit because of Penelope Pitstop”

3. Ruth Gledhill

aka: @ruthiegledhill

who: religion correspondent, The Times.

why: A glimpse into the world of a national newspaper correspondent.

typical tweet: About to welcome Bishop of London Richard Chartres to News International to talk on Hair Shirts and the Apocalypse.

4. Bryony Gordon

aka: @bryony-gordon

who: features writer, Daily Telegraph.

why: Not strictly news, but gets in by virtue of being very, very funny.

typical tweet: If i was a journalist on newsnight now, i’d take paxo up on his red socks. but that’s why i’m not on newsnight. or even a proper journalist.

5. Alison Gow

aka: @alisongow

who: executive editor, Liverpool Echo.

why: Life and times of a big regional paper.

typical tweet: Aaaw – baby’s first legal action! Letter received from the Rooney lawyers warning of court action if papers take pix of their new baby.

6. Krishnan Guru-Murthy

aka: @krishgm

who: presenter, Channel 4 News.

why: Good mix of news, conversation and newsroom gossip – even known to tweet from the studio.

typical tweet: Think we might lead on Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize…..or rather ‘why did Obama get the Nobel Peace Prize?’

7. Kevin Maguire

aka: @kevin_maguire

who: associate editor (politics), Daily Mirror.

why: Well-connected political journalist of the left, a rarity on Twitter. Fighting the good fight.

typical tweet: Ken Clarke’s huge breakfast bowl of prunes may do to him what Con policies would do to Britain.

8. Tim Marshall

aka: @ITwitius

who: foreign affairs editor, Sky News.

why: In his own words, “Insufferable know it all, or, informed commentator – you choose.”

typical tweet: Nobel Prize for best reaction to the Nobel Prize? The Taliban. AFP wire – Taliban condemns decision to award Nobel Peace Prize to Obama.

9. Cathy Newman

aka: @cathynewman

who: political correspondent, Channel 4 News.

why: Funny, gossipy tweets.

typical tweet: Blimey mandy was not happy about me asking why he called the sun a bunch of c****.

10. Victoria Raimes

aka: @victoriaraimes

who: news reporter, Edinburgh Evening News.

why: More life and times on a regional. Takes you right inside the newsroom.

typical tweet: Late shift. Not fair. All good stories gone. Unless any of you good people want to go and create one?

11. Marc Reeves

aka: @marcreeves

who: editor, The Birmingham Post.

why: Twitter-veteran, knows how it works.

typical tweet: Ok. If (and I mean IF) there was a Birmingham Post iPhone app, what would you want it to do?

12. Alan Rusbridger

aka: @arusbridger

who: editor, The Guardian.

why: Occasional, but insightful tweets.

typical tweet: Breaking news. Guardian gagged by a company in the High Court. We can’t tell you which company, or why. Er, that’s it.

13. Alex Thomson

aka: @alextomo

who: chief correspondent, Channel 4 News.

why: Tweets from Kabul to the More4 News studio and all points in between. Good mix of news and nonsense.

typical tweet: Cherry tomatoes on my desk now – still 73 left to eat.

14. Jo Wadsworth

aka: @jowadsworth

who: reporter, Brighton Argus.

why: Life as a local paper hack, warts and all.

typical tweet: Think I’ve managed to diffuse newsdesk/sub spat by singing “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony”. Now they just hate me.

15. Paul Waugh

aka: @paulwaugh

who: deputy political editor, London Evening Standard

why: Gossipy and insightful in equal measure.

typical tweet: Given ‘Evening Standard’ is now a trending topic, can I say that I’ve never before had so much interest in my organ.

So that’s my list. A little politics-heavy, but there are not too many home affairs and foreign correspondents out there in the Twittersphere, which is a shame.

I initially intended to feature 25 Twitterers from media land, but was rather underwhelmed by what I found. Many seemed to miss the opportunities on offer.

Anyway, who have I overlooked and who’s on the list that shouldn’t be? Leave a comment below or via @jon_bernstein.

Jon Bernstein is former multimedia editor of Channel 4 News. This is part of a series of regular columns for Journalism.co.uk. You can read his personal blog at this link.

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Malcolm Coles: Rate of growth slows for newspaper Twitter accounts

Malcolm Coles — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:50:17 +0000

This is a cross-post from Malcolm Coles’ website www.malcolmcoles.co.uk.

National UK newspapers had 1,665,202 followers for their Twitter accounts at the start of October – an increase of 193,266 on September 1 (when they had 1,471,936).

The rate of growth has slowed, however. This is a monthly increase of 13.1 per cent, compared with 17 per cent from August 1 to September 1, and also from July 1 to August 1.

What’s more, 151,555 of the increase (or 78 per cent of the total) is down to just one account – that of @guardiantech (which owes its popularity to its place on the Twitter Suggested User List). Indeed, of the 131 accounts I’m tracking, 51 have fewer followers than me!

You can see the full table here, or below.

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