Twitter, A Journalist’s Best Friend

April 25, 2008 by Jonathan 

Here’s a little nugget and inspiration I’d to get some feedback from the masses on:

I wasn’t actually able to take in any of this live last week, but the amazing power of Twitter can do a reporter’s work for them. Take a look at the first-hand accounts of people who felt the earthquake last week.
In 140 characters or less you really get a feeling for the state of these people are in and what they want to know, things that the - could provide to them in a similar fashion, and with similar speed and agility.
Earthquake Tweets:
mention in NBC Nightly earthquake coverage:
(Thanks Jim Long for the to those tweets and the resulting coverage) 
Simple communications tools like bring new meaning to ‘urgency’ and ‘transparency’, there is no holding back information for a newscast, just pure here’s what’s happening now and here are some potential answers to help you navigate your own life.
I’ve put to work for me, and in fact have gotten calls and emails from potential employers because of the ideas and thoughts that I share with the 300+ people who “follow me”. 
It’s a great way to get a feeling for what’s really going on at any given moment in time, and when I have a question about nearly any topic I have an immediate forum of people much smarter than I who will chime in and help out.
To see how I use , take a look at http://www.twitter.com/jdcoffman 
-Jonathan
http://www.jonathancoffman.com
713-965-7370

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  3. Houston Chronicle Excels in Hurricane Ike Coverage
  4. Jonathan’s Twitter Updates for 2008-04-07
  5. My Social Networking Workflow

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Comments

2 Responses to “Twitter, A Journalist’s Best Friend”

  1. Wayne Sutton on April 25th, 2008 12:51 pm

    It’s good to see twitter used with main stream media, this helps validate the service.

    I’m @waynesutton on twitter and twitter is my friend.

  2. Jonathan on April 25th, 2008 1:30 pm

    Wayne, it certainly does validate the service.

    People are really starting to see the many ways you can make Twitter work in different use cases, and having a more informed and conversant public has so many powerful benefits.

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