Twitter rules for journalists? Here are 26 of Steve Ladurantaye’s
Someone asked me if I had any guidelines for how I use Twitter, and I thought I could think of maybe five things that I believe to be true I’ve been on it for a few years now, and have made lots of mistakes. I’ve been boring, I’ve been funny, I’ve been not funny when I thought I was being funny, I’ve been argumentative, I’ve shared too much information, I’ve killed Gordon Lightfoot. When I sat down to write down what I thought, I came up with more than I expected. So, here are my personal guidelines on how to use Twitter as a beat reporter. I often forget to follow many of them.
By Steve Ladurantaye
Someone asked me if I had any guidelines for how I use Twitter, and I thought I could think of maybe five things that I believe to be true.
I’ve been on it for a few years now, and have made lots of mistakes. I’ve been boring, I’ve been funny, I’ve been not funny when I thought I was being funny, I’ve been argumentative, I’ve shared too much information, I’ve killed Gordon Lightfoot.
When I sat down to write down what I thought, I came up with more than I expected. So, here are my personal guidelines on how to use Twitter as a beat reporter. I often forget to follow many of them.
- You are one tweet away from being fired.
- Be positive. Be nice. Don’t argue with people.
- There is no difference between a professional account and a personal account.
- Be yourself. If you’re funny, be funny. If you’re serious, be serious. Unless you’re a jerky know it all, then be someone else.
- Engage with people who respond to your tweets. If an exchange is longer than two messages each way, use e-mail.
- Sometimes people want to talk about where you work, which is mostly OK. But if someone is picking a fight, direct them to someone who is senior enough to actually do something about the problem.
- Mistakes happen. Fix them and monitor to see if error repeated. Contact anyone who retweets, give them more information.
- Libel is libel. Don’t do that.
- Retweet. But it’s often better to add something to the link to explain why you’re doing.
- Give credit, but don’t go crazy pointing out the trail of tweeters that led you to a story that is widely distributed.
- Wait for the link before tweeting facts from your story.
- After story hits, use Twitter to provide supplemental info that isn’t in the story.
- Point to source documents.
- Share links to your story. Once is enough, unless you’re super impressed with yourself and want to make sure readers at other peak times see the link.
- Tell people what you’re working on, because the benefits often outweigh any competitive disadvantage.
- Know when people are reading – usually just before work, lunchtime and later at night.
- Don’t report rumours/speculation. Either you know stuff or you don’t, and people expect you to know stuff. Attributing rumour to someone else isn’t a free pass.
- Don’t ever tweet about a death. It’s not worth being wrong.
- Mix in as much personal as you are comfortable with to break up the news – people like people who are people.
- Don’t follow everyone who follows you, everything moves too fast. You can use lists to manage large, specific groups.
- Only tweet details of your job if they are relevant or insightful. Complaining about process is boring.
- Inside jokes are confusing to most people.
- Follow people on your beat, but remember they are only a small portion of the world. Remember that Twitter is often an echo chamber.
- Executives and PR departments are watching what you tweet, and making big spreadsheets to monitor what you’re saying. Stick to facts, lay off the snark.
- Open a bottle, close the Twitter.
- You are one tweet away from being fired.
Ps: I’m at @sladurantaye
This column was originally published by Globe and Mail media reporter Steve Ladurantaye on his site as “My Personal Twitter Rules.” It was republished on J-Source with his permission.
