Media Helping Media

For journalists who are new to Twitter, getting used to using the 140-character text messaging system from a web page or a mobile device can appear to daunting. However, it's fairly simple, although there are a few important things to note as this short guide explains.

Getting started

It's like moving into a new neighbourhood and getting to know the neighbours and their friends, and then letting them know about you and telling them what you are up to.

In newsgathering and news dissemination terms, it opens up a global network of new contacts, story leads and ideas, links to specialist interested groups, and exposure to perspectives and opinions that would previously be difficult to access and aggregate.

Businesses, political parties, PR gurus, sales people and media organisations are all using Twitter as a tool for the viral marketing of the information they want people to consume. Journalists can't afford to ignore it. If they do they could end up pumping out yesterday's news when the audience has moved on to another topic.

Moving in

• Sign up for a Twitter account
• Pick a name that reflects what you are about
• Upload a picture that you are happy to see spread all over the place
• Write a short biog that sums up what you want known about you
• Add a link to the website or blog that represents your reason for tweeting
• Change the design of your new Twitter page to something more appropriate to your purpose
• Add a background image if you want your new page to look distinctive.

Weighing up the neighbourhood

• Check what is being tweeted by others
• Consider using tools such as Hashtags, TweetDeck, Twitscoop, Mashable and BreakingTweets to see who is tweeting about what
• Search Twitter using Twitter Search to research your areas of interest
• If you are using TweetDeck, add search terms in order to display new columns of the latest tweets on the topic you are following (eighth button from the left in the top list of Tweetdeck icons)
• Spend enough time assessing the tweets and those tweeting
• Create favourites if you find any people whose tweets you value.

Becoming a good neighbour

• Start tweeting about the things you are interested in
• Try to offer original, stimulating and compelling content
• Write a short, sharp sentence that sums up the story/event/issue
• Subject, verb and object are the best format
• Add a shortened url using one of the popular URL shortening tools such as is.gd, TinyURL, ShortURL, or the neat one built into TweetDeck
• For Firefox there are add-ons that allow you to see the full url for shortened urls before you open them. TweetDeck has the same option in settings: mark the box in front of "Show preview information for short URLs" (note, this tip added by Myrthe as a comment to this article)
• Add your #Hashtags at the end of your tweet so that it reaches all following that topic
• You can also add the # sign in front of words in your message to save space so that you can add more relevant text to your tweet (note, this tip added by Myrthe as a comment to this article)
• Build at least 10 good tweets, and perhaps a few selected retweets - resending tweets you find interesting to those who are following you
• Continue to make your twitter homepage attractive, stocked with great tweets and with enough information about you to help people decide whether you are worth getting to know
• Now it's time to invite the neighbours round and get to know them

Getting to know the neighbours

• Use Twitter Search to find out who is tweeting about the topics you are researching
• If you see an interesting tweet, check out the profile
• Check their biog and the link to their blog/website
• Check out their followers, they may make useful contacts/colleagues for you, they may also give you an indication whether the person is worth following or not
• Read their last half dozen tweets and follow the links
• If you like any of their tweets, retweet them
• Decide whether you want to be associated with this person
• If so, follow them
• Find out about the wider network of your followers and those you are following
• Try a tool such as Twitter Browser to see the connections
• Type in a twitter name, click the double arrows and watch their network display
• Hover over an icon to see their latest tweet from that person
• If interested, click on the icon and see that person's network unveiled
• Continue to retweet any tweets you think have value
• Send a direct message (not necessarily public) to all those who retweet your tweets (you can also make your replies public if you want)

Keep making new friends

• Ensure you keep using #Hashtags with your tweets to make sure you get the widest circulation
• Make sure the hashtag is relevant
• Check the hashtags site as you write your tweet to see what tags are currently being used
• Don't be afraid of adding new tags
• Leave the hashtags at the end of the message

Don't be afraid to ask questions

• People on Twitter love to answer questions
• If you are looking for someone with a specialist interest or who may be involved in an ongoing story, ask on Twitter
• If you are researching a topic and can't find the answer elsewhere, ask on Twitter
• It is also a great way of making new contact and friends, and it also enables you to add perpectives that you may otherwise have overlooked.

Keep your house in order

• If you have a blog or other form of website, consider adding Tweetmeme to every story page to enable people to retweet your articles
• You can also add your latest tweets to the front page of your site by logging on to Twitter, click on settings, and then clicking on the ‘You can also add Twitter to your site here) and follow the instructions

Don't get too close to bad neighbours

• Be careful not to follow all those who follow you
• There are two types of twitters to steer clear of ...
• ... those with slick, know-it-all profile images who are following thousands and who promise get-rich-quick schemes and have tweeted hundreds of times offering marketing advice ...
• ... and those posing scantily clad who are following hundreds or thousands but have few followers and have only tweeted once inviting you to click a link (never click those links)
• As with any links, don't click on twitter links that are suspicious (always check the profile first)

Lock the door

• You can block those who choose to follow you but with whom you don't want to be associated – you don't want your followers list to be populated with time wasters

Share your own tips

• When you learn something new that can benefit other journalists please consider adding the tip as a comment at the foot of this article so that it can be considered and perhaps added, or drop me a line at the Contact Us address and I can update the guide
• Also feel free to rubbish the guide if you want.