Important communication tool or silly toy? Honestly, the jury's still out.
Originally published in the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund's Adviser Update, Summer 2009
by Gary Clites
There’s been a lot of buzz around the online application Twitter as a new communications tool over the last year. Still, when you mention it in any room of educated people, you get many more huh’s than nods of recognition. Start talking about “tweeting,” and the eyes begin to roll. While Facebook, Myspace, blogging, etc. worked their way fairly quickly into the public consciousness as important tools, one wonders why, if Twitter is really so useful, so few nonusers seem even to be aware of it. Certainly, Twitter has potential as a marketing and communications application, but the jury’s still out on whether it will ever be taken seriously enough or be able to serve a significant enough function to be an important part of a journalist’s toolkit.
What is Twitter? Simply put, it’s an online service that allows you to send out very short messages to “followers” who’ve signed up to receive your updates. Conceptually, you are supposed to regularly report to people where you are, what you’re up to, etc. The application can, however, be used to send out information that is much more journalistic and, therefore, of greater value.
Twitter messages, called “tweets” (and, no, all the cutesy names don’t help people take tweeting seriously as a communications tool), are capped at 140 characters, about the size of the average text message. That’s not an accident, as one of the purposes of the site is to combine communication via the computer with communication via cellphone. Twitter allows you to post messages using either your computer or your cell phone and ship them to followers’ computers and cell phones. These SMS (Short Message Service) communications are referred to by some as micro-blogs. This can allow a school newspaper or broadcast to constantly update students and parents about what’s going on around school.
Why, then, hasn’t tweeting caught on more strongly as a tool of high school journalism? Two reasons: First, there are already several ways to communicate much of the same information that are already popular with readers. You can do much the same thing blogging, using Facebook, etc., while being able to communicate in greater depth. Second, as teacher Joan Swenson, who advises the Revolution newspaper at Liberty High School in Bakersfield, California, put it, “My students mock Twitter. They say it’s something that old people think is cool and, therefore, is not cool at all.” In the spring, one of her students wrote a piece arguing that using Facebook to communicate makes much more sense than using Twitter.
Does that mean Twitter lacks value as a tool for high school journalists? Not at all. I plan to have my students tweeting in the Fall (though when I told them, I did get eye rolls). There a lot of valuable uses for Twitter. Why not tweet the scores of your school’s football game in real time? Why not tweet the name of the prom king and queen as they are crowned. On Inauguration Day, some newspapers sent staffers with Twitter accounts to the National Mall to tweet updates to their fellow students. It is important, however, to acknowledge that the role of micro-blogging in a publication’s communications strategy is still questionable. If you’re going to have students tweet, you might also want them to be blogging, building a web presence and, even, using Facebook and Myspace.
How do you get started on Twitter? One of the site’s assets is that it is really easy to use. Simply go to Twitter.com and click “Get Started–Join.” You’ll then be asked to create a username and password. Picking the right username can be pretty crucial as this is what people will use to find you. Avoid abbreviations or obscure references. Go with the whole name of your paper or something easy for people to search for. Answer a few more questions and you’ll have a Twitter account. If you click on the “Protect My Updates” box during setup, only people you certify will be able to read your tweets. For journalistic purposes, it probably makes more sense to create a public presence on the service.
You next have to decide whether to link a cell phone to your Twitter account. Being able to remotely post updates is one of the points to Twittering, but this raises some thorny issues. Do you trust a particular student enough to give him posting authority on your official tweet? Do you trust her friends who might grab the phone at a party and post a 140-character rant about your principal? Do you use your own cell to create messages? Do you then want to give your cell number to reporters to send you scores and updates as they happen so you can post them? Tricky. To enable cell phone tweeting, simply go to Settings > Devices and type in the phone number.
The next step is to publicize your Twitter account. Every user gets a Twitter page that can be accessed at: twitter.com/username (i.e., my Twitter page is twitter.com/garyclites). That makes it really easy for people to find you and become a follower. Also available on the site are both free and low cost applications to do things like put Twitter updates on your Facebook or Myspace pages or send them to your iPhone (link through “Apps” at the bottom of the page).
These applications may, eventually, be the key to whether Twitter makes it. If they catch on and Twitter becomes more a regular part of students’ social networking experience, it may grow into an essential part of every journalist’s communications strategy.
© Gary Clites, 2009
