Referring to What Exactly Is 'Twitter'? What Is 'Tweeting'? Twitter's big appeal is how rapid and scan-friendly it is. Every microblog "tweet" entry is limited to 140 characters or less. This size cap promotes focused and clever use of language, which makes tweets very easy to scan, and also very challenging to write well. Twitter is more than just instant messaging. It's about discovering interesting people around the world. It can also be about building a following of people who are interested in you and your work/hobbies, and then providing those followers with some kind of knowledge value everyday.
According to Poynter.org, twitter is valuable and is the most useful tool developed for journalists.
Breaking News
When public news breaks in your community, whether that news is a plane crash, terrorist attack, earthquake, flood, mass murder or snowstorm, people who have seen and experienced the news event tweet about it. By using twitter's advanced search feature, you can quickly find and connect with these people for interviews and/or for quoting or embedding their tweets in your story.
Search for Sources
If you don't have many followers, or if your followers don't know the answers you're looking for, Twitter can still help you find sources. Use the advanced search function to search for people in your community using keywords that might indicate interest or expertise on the topic being reported. You can check a hashtag related to the topic you're working on and see if some of the people tweeting on the topic might be helpful sources.
Story Ideas
You can get story ideas from Twitter at least two different ways:
1. Listening to the community conversation
2. Crowdsource story ideas
Continue the Conversation
After you post a link to your latest story, video, photo gallery or blog post invite your followers in a tweet to discuss the issue or event. They may give you some follow-up ideas. Their tweets might make and update to add to the story or post.
President Obama repeated the Twitter hashtag during a Tuesday speech opposing an increase in student loans interest rates. Within moments after Obama finished his remarks, Twitter users had written more than 22,000 posts containing "#dontdoublemyrate"-- enough for Twitter to declare it a top 10 worldwide "trending topic". Campaigning in 140 characters or less provides instant feedback, which campaigns use to figure out what is working and what isn't. "Twitter has become the ultimate real-time engagement tool for his campaign, said Zac Moffatt, digital director for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. What gives Twitter its outsize influence in politics is not how many users it has but who those users are---journalists, elected officials, campaign operatives. About 90 percent of senators and House Members now have Twitter accounts, so do 42 governors and more than 35 world leaders. "Every single things we do, there's a tweet button next to it," said Katie Hogan, a spokeswoman for Obama's campaign. "We can now reach not only our supporters but our supporters can drive the message, too" Twitter and Campaigns .
According to Business Twitter, business can tap into Twitter to expand their reach and connect with new and existing customers.
Discover whats happening right now
Use Twitter search to listen to the relevant conversations that are happening and jump in where you can add value.
Increase you brand awareness
Raise the profits of your business and increase the impact of your marketing by using Twitter to regularly communicate with your followers. Extend your reach even further with Twitter Ads.
Provide timely customer service
People often talk about the products they use on Twitter, so its a natural place to provide customer service. Use it to quickly and easily respond to support queries. That will help you develop a good reputation for your business, and strong relationships with customers.
Connect with potential customers, brand, advocates, and influences
Its a great way of joining or even starting discussions with influences and industry experts to raise the profile of your business and build valuable connections.
In late March there was a terrorist attack in Brussels at Zaventon airport. As the explosions happened you immediately saw people posting videos of those running in panic from the airport. There were videos showing the evacuations of the Metro Underground and how hotel lobbies turned into emergency rooms. Even though we weren't able to prevent these attacks we were able to catch one man. It was wide spread throughout Twitter. He was seen on camera walking away from the other two suspects in the airport ISIS Claims Responsibility for Brussels attacks.
Another terrorist attack happened in Paris in the middle of November last year. One person tweeted "6 shooting locations: Batclan, Rue Alibert, Rue Charonne, Rue Beaumarchais, Rue Faidherbe and Stade de France." It was said that there was a hostage situation taking place in the Batclan where gunfire and small explosions took place. We are then notified that police raided the place and killed two out of the three attackers. While inside the Stade de France you can hear fro a video posted by an onlooker, the sound of a explosion outside the stadium. In all the tweets, videos, and posts they somewhat let you know that these attacks were linked or connected in a way. This happens to be true because ISIS themselves claimed to have involvement in the multiple attacks Paris Attacked.
In the summer of 2015 a rapper by the name of J.Cole was on tour and coming to a venue in NYC. You only knew he was coming to your town, but you din't know the venue of the performance. He would use Twitter to let you know the location of the venue the same day of the performance. Once he let that tweet out, everybody walked, drove, took the bus, train...etc to the venue. It was said the first 500 people get tickets. The scene outside in a matter of minutes was full of people.
Choosing to follow CNN, NBA.com, and Applenews are easy choices because the season is going on and if a fan you will always be updated while on the go. If your one to have only one TV to support one game at a time, Twitter gives the advantage of keeping up to speed with scores of other games happening the same night. CNN covers world news and it just seems right to know whats going on around the globe and even in your own backyard. It also keeps me updated with the nonsense that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth. Apple has pretty much taken over, so why not keep up to date with future inventions and release dates.
In conclusion, with blogging you can talk forever, while being specific with details. Twitter is a bit more tricky because you only have 140 characters to get your point across. Twitter on its own is very different from other social media platforms. It shouldn't be the first place you look for news. The updates are fast paced with multiple tweets, but you must be specific and to the point with what your saying because you don't have a lot of characters to waste.
