I’m what you would classify as a Twitter observer – I look but I don’t touch. In response to my inactivity, I’m frequently told by digital experts “use it or lose it,” but I like my omnipresent view of the Twittersphere. It comes in handy to quickly ascertain the score of a game or the cause of train delays.
In the vein of self improvement, I’ve been asking myself what more could I do on Twitter? One obvious answer is engaging with journalists. Which lead me to my next questions – how do journalists use Twitter?
With the help of my colleague Cary Ruterman, I conducted an unscientific, but telling, audit of reporters’ social media habits. We spoke with journalists from print, online, broadcast and wire outlets and all of them focused on finance (that is kind of what we are known for here at Prosek).
Here is what we asked and found...
How do you use Twitter (professionally, for your reporting)?
All our respondents utilize it in almost in the same way: to monitor news, to connect with sources and to see what the industry and competitors alike are "talking about."
That seems like a lot to rely on Twitter for. How does it really impact you reporting?
Almost all reporters audited consider Twitter to be a key, daily source for reporting with one describing Twitter an “essential resource.” One reluctant reporter admitted that “it is becoming more useful to a degree.”
College seniors around the country breathed a collective sigh of relief last week when the U.S. Senate decided not to advance the new Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, also known as CISPA. A new clause in the bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would have allowed businesses and the U.S. Government full access to individuals’ personal social media pages as a way to crackdown on cybercrime.
