Twitter is one of the ways to inform and stay connected to an audience. Image: Renjith Krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I have to admit something before talking about Twitter and how I changed my mind about it. Before exploring the “blogging world,” I did create a Twitter account about two years ago. How many times did I tweet when I had my first account? I don’t even remember. Probably about three or four times. The reason for me to do it at the time? Everytime I would watch the news on CNN, NBC, or any other network, I saw some of my favorites reporters encouraging people to give their comments on A or B issue that everybody was talking about. I really like to read different perspectives about different topics. For some reason, I just stopped doing it. I still don’t understand why if I knew how important this online social network was becoming within the field I chose: Journalism. Even though my second account is one week old, I realize even more how useful it is.
First of all, I’m starting to use Twitter to network with people who will help me in my future career plans. Yeah, I know it’s the most obvious reason (Duh!). But my point is this: This can be another tool besides Facebook to know important people who could potentially and greatly influence one’s career. Let me give you an example here: Last night I was looking for different people to follow on Twitter (Some people who I already know, but others that I would love to meet in the near future). A light bulb started shining on my face. Since my boss has proposed for me to attend the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) Annual Conference 2011 at Washington, DC next month to meet and connect with the people from this organization. I went to the website and found the name of the President and CEO of NCLR Janet Murguia. I started following her to know a little bit before meeting her in person.
Maybe she is shaking hands with her future employer. She probably used Twitter to get to him. Image: Photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Another reason for the use of Twitter is to find out what’s going on out there, especially through professionals in the desired field. Again, I’ll continue using the NCLR example. I checked Janet Murguia’s latest tweet. She announced that President Barack Obama, Arianna Huffington, Eva Longoria, and others will attend this conference in July. Obviously, this is really useful information to know beforehand. It gives me an idea of the people I will be meeting there. Also, Twitter is a great resource to find stories to write about. Let me step a little bit away from my own example and give a different one. The incident with the plane that fell in the Hudson River. Some reporters knew about this through people who were there and posted it on Twitter.
Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Finally, what else can I say about the uses of Twitter for reporting that I haven’t mentioned yet? Even some online editors have shared their perspectives on using this online social media. They pretty much support what I already said here. I would like to recommend future journalits to be open minded about Twitter. It does help a lot when it comes to connecting with people and finding stories. For those who completely refuse the idea of using this tool: Time will tell if you made the right choice or not!
