AP reporter tweets Raiders coach fired, except he wasn't

I don't know that I'd go as far as to call it a net plus, but I'm not even on it and never will be, so maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

The benefits of Twitter for media are the same as the "benefits" of working unpaid internships. You get paid in "exposure," which doesn't keep the lights on.

The problem for media, in addition to looking like fools in the rush to be FIRST!!!!! and appear the most plugged in, is that they treat it like a news source in itself.

Angry people tweeting is not "news." A large amount of people angrily tweeting about something is not "news." It's a signal that there's news out there you should be reporting on instead of trolling Twitter for "reaction."

But, since a reporter can do that for free and from a desk in an office without using any gas or mileage, that's what too often passes for "reporting."

 

If you're not on twitter, I'm not sure you're really in a good position to judge it.

Lots of media members use twitter not only to build/enhance their own personal brand, but also to drive readers to their reporting/commentary.

 

They make like 11 cents for that too.

 

And, that and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks.

 

ESPN doesn't care if they're wrong. Has a reporter there ever lost their job for being wrong?

 

C'mon.

If it drives people to the website, it drives revenue.

 

Te-hee. You're funny.

 

So more people on your website doesn't mean an increase in revenue? Advertisers look for the sites with the lowest number of visitors?

 

It does not, no. That's what the last 15 years of newspapers has been about proving.

The advertising revenues are too low to matter.

 

Have you been asleep for the last decade?

 

There's also this not-so-secret inconvenient truth: except in some extreme circumstances, Twitter isn't driving much traffic. People don't click on the links that often, and it still pales in comparison to the traffic brought in by Facebook.

 

Well, OK.

But then you might as well just turn off the lights.

Increased readership is the goal, right? If you use twitter well, you can increase readership.

Nothing is going to drive people to subscribe to the dead tree version of a newspaper.