Twitter and journalists: A round-up
A few items that I saw over the past week and didn’t have time to post:
Feb. 13 – Mystery Twitter account ridicules BBC staff
In a tweet, I asked, “Shades of the Tea Makers?” — the anonymous blog that used to torment CBCers of high station in life. A Tea Makers Twitter feed exists (“public broadcastaz 4 life”), but as of this writing, hasn’t been updated since August.
Feb. 16, CBCNews.ca – Neil Macdonald: Adventures in Twitter-land
The veteran reporter and noted grouch gave up on Twitter after a trial run:
my spider-sense tells me this tweeting business is unwise. It has already resulted in a firing and a suspension at CNN and, inevitably, some of my other colleagues will hang themselves, too, either by tweeting something really stupid, or some remark that someone with an ax to grind can easily distort.
As my first boss told me 36 years ago, everybody needs an editor. I can personally attest to that. A few smart editors over the years have rescued me from some really awful blunders.
But there are no editors in Twitter-land. Just impulses and “send” buttons.
The “watchdog” zealots who patrol the web are to me about as significant as people who shout rude things from their cars to interrupt an on-camera report. They have no traction outside their own specialized followings.
But in this case, I should thank them for reminding me what my actual job is: providing thoughtful analysis and considered reports, not a series of one-liners.
Feb. 20, Mashable – Tweeting a war: How one journalist is using Twitter in Afghanistan
The journalist is Mustapha Kazemi, who tweets as @combatjourno.
Feb. 23 – Saw this tweet from CBCNews.ca’s Katy Anderson:
Twazzup: Great for breaking news, quick way to find popular hashtags, influential users http://www.twazzup.com #NICAR12
Finally, I recently saw this link to a Pew Research report on How mainstream media outlets use Twitter.
Addendum
How could I forget this oddity? Twitter co-founder: Unhealthy to stare at tweets all day
Don’t get Biz Stone wrong. He wants you to visit Twitter a lot — just not for 12 hours straight.