TwitterLocal tells what everyone is talking about
For the past week, I’ve been watching the TwitterLocal Feed, recommended by Mark Hamilton. You subscribe to all
the local tweets in your feed reader.
Back in the old days of some 15 years ago, I had a great
editor who would make an effort to scour the town and find out what people were
talking about in coffee shops and bars, around water coolers and parks. He would constantly ask reporters, “What are
people talking about. That’s what where
we ought to look for stories.”
With TwitterLocal, I can find out what people are talking
about on my phone. Every once in a
while, they’re even talking about what we’re reporting.
We spend a lot of time
trying to figure out how to use the new technology to serve our own purposes of
disseminating information. But I’m
reminded we need to also take time to use it to learn more about the people we
are hoping to reach.