I never cease to be amazed and the glorious world of Twitter. Being a technophobe, it’s nothing short of a miracle that I can even work the thing, let alone utilise it for journalistic ends. However, it’s come up trumps time and time again when I’m hunting for that all important case study, or need a question answering from someone more experienced than myself.
I am starting to reap the rewards of a journorequest hash-tag when hunting for interesting people with good stories to tell, or finding a contact. Twitter has become a way for new journalists to follow their career heroes, and maybe even communicate with them directly. I couldn’t help but shriek a little when a friend was tweeted by Charlie Brooker after she tweeted about him. Caroline, I envy you so much.
From the comfort of my own desk I can send out a little request for a woman who’s had breast cancer, a businessman under the age of 25 who is doing well in the recession, or a Dad who’s newly single. It does save a lot of time. In 24 hours I had 5 offers of case studies for a feature I was writing about a very particular subject. I literally had my pick.
There are now enough ‘normal’ people on Twitter to make it a viable source for all things public. It’s become another facebook, another way of promoting the minutiae of your life to an ever-wider audience. See here for some excellent Twitter musings.
However, as emerging journalists it can be all too easy to sit around waiting for people to come to us, rather than getting out there in the thick of it and finding unique stories. The internet has bred a generation of blessed journalists who could conduct almost their entire working life without having to move from their chair. A dangerous thought. Sometimes picking up the phone (argh!) or stepping out into the street (remember that?!) will be the thing that gets you the exclusive, the scoop.
Twitter is brilliant, but I should remember not to rely on it entirely. After all, that ‘exclusive’ I found is visible to millions of others as well.
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Hey Rhi found this post really interesting as I’m contemplating beginning to tweet myself. I find tools like facebook and blogging to be fantastic ways of keep track of friends and family I have spread out around the globe. I think I may have met you in person at soul survivor/momentum and maybe at Exeter Uni. You were in Holland Halls?