Clay Travis on why every writer/journalist needs to be active on Twitter

[auggie_ben_doggie]

There's one point Travis doesn't mention about Twitter that I loathe, as a journalist on Twitter and one who uses it much as he describes:

That many writers and bloggers use it as a free marketplace of ideas to steal, and a place to find information to reuse without attribution.

We're already in a media culture in which acknowledgement of others' work on a given story is ignored by self-promoting writers or discouraged by editors who see it as driving traffic to someone else's site. But it's gotten to the point where I won't put a quote or a scoop on Twitter unless I have to, lest someone actually build their own story around my tweet before I can -- or, worse, just lift it for their own reporting.

 

[HejiraHenry]

A lot of truth in there. May not be your truth, though.

 

[Drip]

Whether its correct or incorrect, Twitter is the new toy for instant information. The danger I find is that there's no one checking the facts. I'm sure someone will develop something a little faster and better.
Clay brought up several times about the empowerment it gives writers. IMO, it just takes community journalism to a new uncontrollable level.

 

[Moderator1]

As an editor, I'm always uncomfortable with unedited stuff being thrown out there - blogs do that and Twitter really does it. So you have to have a very high level of trust in your writers (and cross your fingers a lot). I got sick to my stomach at some of the "tweets" flying around the night Dan Wheldon died.

That said, nothing - NOTHING - drives traffic like Twitter. So I encourage (and by encourage I pretty much mean require) my writers to use it. And be smart about it.

Don't retweet it just because it is there. Make sure it is correct. Retweeting it attaches your name to it.

 

[Azrael]

Whether its correct or incorrect, Twitter is the new toy for instant information. The danger I find is that there's no one checking the facts. I'm sure someone will develop something a little faster and better.
Clay brought up several times about the empowerment it gives writers. IMO, it just takes community journalism to a new uncontrollable level.

Not a toy.

 

[Gator]

Whether its correct or incorrect, Twitter is the new toy for instant information. The danger I find is that there's no one checking the facts. I'm sure someone will develop something a little faster and better.
Clay brought up several times about the empowerment it gives writers. IMO, it just takes community journalism to a new uncontrollable level.

Community journalism + Twitter = high-speed rumor mill.

 

[da man]

Whether its correct or incorrect, Twitter is the new toy for instant information. The danger I find is that there's no one checking the facts. I'm sure someone will develop something a little faster and better.
Clay brought up several times about the empowerment it gives writers. IMO, it just takes community journalism to a new uncontrollable level.

Not a toy.

An enormous percentage of the Twitter population -- including journalists -- uses it like one.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

So? Doesn't make it a good, useful tool for those who want to do it that way. You have tremendous control over how you use it, including what you see.

 

[SF_Express]

I'm active on Twitter now, both posting live updates as to what's going on at my place, and to follow the news.

Our reporters and bloggers get started on a LOT of stories now because of Twitter, aside from breaking an increasing share of our own.

I wish it were the Golden Age of Newspapers again and none of this mattered, but it does, and I want to be relevant for the next 13-14 years to retirement, so like it or not, Twitter is part of the deal.

And really, if you just want to get updates from people and papers/websites you want to read, it IS simply more convenient.

I still like the regular site more than Tweetdeck, though, although I'm learning.

 

[Azrael]

Toy: www.amazon.com/Radio-Control-Hobbies/b?ie=UTF8&node=166583011

Not a toy: topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/unmanned_aerial_vehicles/index.html

Technology - even, or especially, information technology - depends entirely upon how it's applied.

 

[Gator]

Toy: www.amazon.com/Radio-Control-Hobbies/b?ie=UTF8&node=166583011

Not a toy: topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/unmanned_aerial_vehicles/index.html

Technology - even, or especially, information technology - depends entirely upon how it's applied.

Yes, I play guitar and YouTube is an amazing tool to learn how to play new stuff. But it's also a tool that forwards the downfall of humanity. So we've learned that Twitter is great, and it sucks at the same time.

I'm still not going on it.

 

[Azrael]

Do you shun the telephone, too? It promulgates more vicious gossip than Twitter.