Twitter’s Guide for Journalists

This week saw the launch of Twitter for Newsrooms, a How To guide for journalists sourcing information from Twitter. Whilst the site doesn’t actually bring anything new to the table in way of search features or functionality, it’s possibly more important for the watershed nature of its intent – this is very much a call to arms for old media to get with the hashtag program.

It doesn’t take long on the microsite to realise its intended audience, with the telling “We know you come from different generations” on the front-page and later advising users to upload profile and background pictures, but this subtle engagement will no doubt prove a vital resource to those new-to or curious-about the platform.

A Timely Feature

With all the media attention Twitter has garnered of late, this latest progression in establishing the site as a credible source of breaking news seems as timely as it is useful (though Facebook beat them to the punch by a few months with their recent Facebook and Journalists page).

Covering the expected topics of how best to use their search engines and the basics of effective tweeting it might feel like a lesson you’ve already learnt. However it’s when touching on subjects like their TweetDeck application which allows for easier monitoring of specific topics and users and the Web Intent toolkit for Twitter interactions via your own site, you realise the site really is more than just a box for 140 characters.