That’s according to a post from Jacob Harris on Open, NYTimes.com’s developers’ blog. Harris explains the process behind counting the number of links shared – including how shortened URLs are dealt with – when taking a few hours’ worth of tweets from a Monday afternoon.
The data ranged from a minimum of 4 to a maximum of 57 (that is, from once every 15 seconds to almost once a second), as the following chart of minute-by-minute counts demonstrates.
Paper.li, a new (but not officially affiliated) Twitter application, has launched in alpha.
It creates a ‘newspaper’ using links that have been shared by both the specified user and the people they follow – from the past 24 hours.
Paper.li calls the Twitter account the ‘editor-in-chief’ and the people being followed by the account the ‘contributors’.
It comes with a small disclaimer: “As we are in alpha, we may have to turn off any new creations on short notice to make sure we can correctly scale our systems.”
The user’s live stream is shown at the side of the page and the main page displays content around related subjects. Google ads are placed at the right hand side.
H
ere’s a section of what the @journalismnews’ page, or paper, looks like. I wasn’t sure what to expect given that we’re following quite a diverse mix of people, but it’s actually quite tailored to our patch, journalism and media, with a live #journalism stream as well. But as you scroll down, the links become less relevant, with a ‘Switzerland’ section at the bottom of our page.
The Huffington Post is launching a separate Twitter edition of its site, designed to blend news items from the main site with Twitter feeds selected by Huff Post editors. The new edition also features stories that are ‘hot on Twitter’.
All 19 Huff Post verticals now have a distinct Twitter version – see examples of the Media, Technology, and Politics sections at these links – and a Twitter edition homepage launches soon. Visitors to the site can follow links on each original section’s masthead to switch to its Twitter version.
Eric Hippeau, CEO of Huff Post, said:
By creating a Twitter edition of HuffPost, we’re seeking to give our engaged audience another exciting way to follow the news in real-time. Our goal is to build a destination for users to unlock all that’s happening on Twitter in the areas of most interest to them.
A quick update on developments with Sky News’ breaking news Twitter account, launched by the broadcaster in December – the @skynewsbreak account is now incorporated in the news ticker running across the top of the SkyNews.com website.
Sky News Online executive producer Julian March first mentioned plans for this when speaking to Journalism.co.uk in January about increased use of social media for newsgathering amongst Sky News staff.
Dramatically named blogger and journalism entrepreneur Lockhart Steele has guested on mediabistro’s Media Beat video series in the last two days, with the last episode appearing later this afternoon. Steele began blogging around the beginning of the decade while working in magazines. He was recruited by Nick Denton as Gawker began to pick up traffic and later became managing editor of the site, seeing it expand from just a handful of editorial staff to around 150.
In the second installment of the Media Beat series, below, Steele discusses getting traffic through Twitter and Facebook, diversifying revenue streams online, and “looking for niches where we can be a little bit weird”.
Good spot by Talking Biz News (via Martin Stabe) – a new ad for the Financial Times directs readers towards the title’s Twitter feeds.
Hear first and act fast with Twitter feeds.
Get the news you need as it happens, with FT Twitter feeds. Delivering breaking FT news, features, blogs and multimedia, they’ll alert you to the developments that matter.
Last night I enjoyed lurking on the Twitter backchannel while watching Channel 4’s Ask the Chancellor debate – trivia mixed with observational insight.
I liked Evening Standard journalist Paul Waugh’s tweet about George Osborne’s ‘invisible pedal’ left-foot habit, as much as the economic 140-character analysis and Channel 4’s live poll via tweets, as the Chancellor hopefuls and incumbent fought it out (Vince Cable was the eventual winner, with 36 per cent; leaving Osborne and Darling with 32 per cent each).
Twitter also gave us an insight into the Channel 4/BBC political debate rivalry – spotted in tweets between Channel 4’s Faisal Islam and Radio 4’s Evan Davis. This, from Islam, for example:
amused by @r4today s licence-fee funded sniffiness about #askthechancellors Obviously nowt to do with this: http://bit.ly/aoc4MH
Probably worth noting this too, spotted via @the_mediablog:
RT @DominicFarrell: Those who will decide the #election were watching Coronation Street #askthechancellors
That was a sentiment supported by this morning’s TV stats: Brand Republic reports that Ask the Chancellors peaked at 2.1 million, while 9 million watched Eastenders.
So how important was this backchannel and the digital audience? That was the question Jim Naughtie posed to POLIS director Charlie Beckett on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 Today programme (audio at this link). Beckett said:
I think the real winner (…) despite some of the media cynicism, was in a sense ‘democracy’. I detected a lot of people who were quite pleased to hear a lengthy debate in detail, in public, by these people.
Beckett elaborates here, on his blog:
It all makes for much richer, multi-layered reportage. The TV debate alone would have been worth it. But the fact that tens of thousands of people were taking part reminds us that citizens do care about politics. And they want to be part of reporting the debate as it happens.
Following Journalism.co.uk’s report in January that Sky News is installing Twitter application Tweetdeck on the computers of all its newsroom staff, Poynter has an update on the roll-out from executive producer Julian March:
March is so serious about its value that he is making social media literacy an objective on his digital media staff’s performance reviews. “I want to see social media become a part of the fabric of the day-to-day work,” he said.
Earlier this week Reuters’ global editor Greg Beitchman told an industry debate on the future of video that the agency wants to make more of its raw film footage available to clients.
Speaking to Beet.tv in the video below, Beitchman explains how Reuters used social media, particularly Twitter, to source raw video footage from Iran during its coverage of the post-election protests:
Journalism.co.uk loves Twitter as our multiple Twitter accounts will testify. But we’re just not sure about gnews140, the Guardian’ s video show wrapping up the big news stories on Twitter from the past week.
While it’s definitely tongue-in-cheek, is it Twitter overkill? Make your own minds up here – http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2010/feb/26/twitter-gnews140
