“Tweeting” Your Research
Twitter has become a popular reporting tool that allows journalists across the world to follow the news in real time. Yet little focus is given to its use as a research tool. With its 140-character limit messages, it is more of a robust research tool than we realize. Here are just few ways that Twitter can be used to enhance your research and reporting.
Monitor News and Events
Monitor in real time, what people are saying about specific news topics or events. Limit your search using the advanced search operators, or the advanced search form to focus in on a specific location, date, user, attitude, etc. For example, use the following search strategy to find out what people in New York City have been tweeting about the health care reform bill since March 21, 2010:
“healthcare reform” near:NYC since:2010-03-21
Tip: You can search and view tweets without having to have a Twitter account, or being logged in by going to http://search.twitter.com.
Monitor Organizations
Find out what people are saying about a particular organization or business. Think of it as monitoring the “buzz”. In doing so it may also be helpful to limit your resulting tweets to those that include external links, to also see what Web sites they are sharing to help you come up with a story idea. For example, take a look at what people are saying about Toyota and what sites are they sharing:
Example: #Toyota filter:links
Tip: The hashtag (#) before a word in a post, designates that the word is to be recognized as a category (think keyword). Therefore when you search tweets placing a hashtag in front of a search term refines your search and increases the likelihood of relevant search results.
Find Experts
ExpertTweet is a new Twitter application developed by the folks at Journalististics that enables users to tweet requests for expert suggestions to the ExpertTweet community. This free service offers a faster way to find experts on Twitter without having to use a keyword search, or scanning #followfriday shout-outs. The intended audience includes:
* Event organizers looking for speakers or panelists
* Reporters or bloggers looking for quick source suggestions, comments on a
topic, or other quick feedback
* Entrepreneurs and business owners looking for expert advice
* Employers looking for suggestions on candidates
* Authors looking for sources for a book
* Consumers looking for expert advice on purchases
ExpertTweet is simple to use. Login into ExpertTweet using your Twitter credentials and submit an ExpertTweet request by typing it in the text box. Your handle is automatically included as part of the message, so be aware that you will have less characters than usual to type your message. Your post is then shared with those Twitter community members following ExpertTweet. If your topic isn’t too esoteric, you should start receiving suggestions and recommendations within minutes.
These are just a few ways of using Twitter to enhance your reporting, but there is much more to learn. As with any product or application, to learn how to use Twitter more effectively, start with reading the instructions or the help screens.
