What am I doing? Well let me tell you ...
I’m not the last person to start using Twitter - it just
seems like it, as the micro-blogging, breaking-news information network just
keeps growing. I joined Twitter several months ago, with Ryan Sholin's encouragement. But I didn't really use the account until the past week.
Frankly, that little bird scared
me.
Twitter is like Facebook fueled by text messages. Imagine being able to send and receive text
messages all over the world to everyone at once. Scary, especially for a man approaching 50. What do you
mean: “What are you doing?” Why do you
want to know? Why do you care?
Then I heard stories about how Californians
were using it to track the wildfires and later how the Bhutto assassination
spread on Twitter. Ah, real
news stuff amid all the chatter.
Last week, I began posting my own Twitters, and connected to
friends I’ve made on-line, at conferences and through this blog. I also signed up for NPR news updates,
NewsBreakingOn and the New York Times updates.
I watched the returns of the South Carolina primary.
You can find plenty of help getting started, including I found Nico
Luchsinger’s “Why Journalist’s Should Use Twitter” and Shawn Smith’s “Ultimate Guide to Twitter Resources and Tools for
Journalists.”
Journalists have
reported getting news tips from sources and even help with interviews. I even see some potential for investigative
pieces, watching it unfold in small increments as the reporter digs deeper into
the story.
And there’s quite a
discussion going on in the “New to Social Networking” and “Story-Telling
Innovations groups on Wire Journalists. Oh, yeah, join that while you’re at it.
I know, I
know: more social networks to join, more web sites to check. But this is where our readers are
going. Let’s go with them.
If you haven’t
signed up yet, it’s free, and I use it on the go from my mobile phone.
Add me: rsylvester.
Then start
Twittering your life away.