by Lauren Martin
Twitter as an essential tool for
journalists was growing the more that I saw reporters using it to
share links to news stories or search for sources or strengthen their
interaction with readers. Twitter can be a powerful tool for finding
story ideas and keeping up with news about your beat. If you’re a
food critic, follow food bloggers and restaurants in your area. If
you’re a sports reporter, follow local coaches and athletes.
One of the hardest parts to writing a
story is finding your sources and that’s especially the case if
you’re looking for a very specific type of person. Emailing your
direct contacts may only yield limited results, but if you poll your
Twitter followers, your chances of one of them knowing someone who
fits your need is greatly increased.
Hashtags. Searching
for hashtags is useful for journalists to help find what many people
are tweeting about an issue, not just those whom you follow on
Twitter. It’s a good way to follow the news through the
crowd-sourced tweets of the masses. It helps sort through the barrage
of information on Twitter if you are just looking to read about one
topic.
Advanced search. Twitter's
basic search tool is good for searching key words, but let’s say
you want to find out what people in your local community are
tweeting. You can refine your search by using Twitter's advanced
search page, which lets you search by location. By typing in your
location and a key word, you can find related tweets anywhere between
1 mile and 1,000 miles of that location.
Tweet your beat. Some
journalists simply tweet their beat to gain involvement. That way,
they are able to get responses for other people who are on Twitter
and this allows the journalist to let the sources come to them. By
just putting an idea or question out there for other people to
comment on, journalist are bound to find people who are interested in
putting their two cents.
Direct Message.
After tweeting your beat and searching through hashtags, the next
step is to pinpoint someone who is a perfect source for your story.
If you find local people you want to interview, follow up with them
on Twitter and ask them to send you a Direct Message with their
contact information. You can reach out to them via direct message or
give them the option to contact you if they are interested in
discussing the topic further.
Twitter is a solid starting
point. It doesn’t replace traditional reporting, but it just helps
you find sources you may not have otherwise come across.
