Most journalists use Twitter to broadcast, not engage

Australian journalist Renai LeMay says Twitter is journalism. He has written a few posts on the subject on his blog and elsewhere. The best jumping off point for new readers is his Twitter’s impact on media and journalism.

LeMay has a great grasp of where news journalism and online media may go.

In an earlier post on this site I asked  Can Twitter be journalism?  The conclusion is that it can be.

However, only a fraction of Twittering journos actually use the technology as an interactive news media.

Many journalists use Twitter to broadcast, not engage

Most simply use Twitter as a broadcast medium – rather like an RSS feed. A number have Twitter accounts, but say little of real value. Perhaps 40 percent can be said to be serious Twitter journalists.

This estimate may be over optimistic. Yesterday the Online Journalism Blog reported on how British newspapers use Twitter. In Newspapers on Twitter – how the Guardian, FT and Times are winning Malcolm Coles writes;

“newspapers have a total of 1,068,898 followers across their 120 official Twitter accounts – with the Guardian, Times and FT the only three papers in the top 10.”

Most do nothing other than broadcast

This sounds encouraging. Buried further down the story is the comment:

“Out of 120 accounts, just 16 do something other than running as a glorified RSS feed. The other 114 do no retweeting, no replying to other tweets etc”

Coles also points out the newspaper sites do little in the way of following.

Cluetrain has barely stopped here

Both these points apply to the bulk of Twittering publications in Australian and New Zealand. Presumably journalists are encouraged (or bullied) by managers to promote their stories using the technology, but are actively discouraged from replying and retweeting.

There’s a precedent for this. After all, hardly any online publications in the region ever link to titles owned by other publishers – which means they are missing the point of online publishing somewhat. Until publishers encourage reporters and editors to engage with their audiences, they are going to miss out on the potential of Twitter.

Of course, the journalists who do really well at this will become media brands in their own right, which will worry the bean counters. But that’s another story…