Tweeting when you don’t want to invest much time

The headline and premise of this post seems counterproductive to the nature and value of Twitter. You get more value out of Twitter with the more time you invest.

Many people don’t recognize this philosophy and some journalists let their accounts lay dormant soon after creation. They fill out some basic information, send out a few tweets and fail to gather a following. Thus begins the hibernating account. It doesn’t need to be this way.

The following are seven tweet styles that will add a layer of transparency your job and should elicit a response from followers. This isn't a starter's post. Consider these suggestions after you've filled out your profile information and followed Twitter profiles relevant to your beat. Think of this post as the next step.

1. Tweet for story ideas.

It doesn’t hurt to ask your followers for suggestions or ask whether they’d like to see another angle covered on an ongoing issue.

2. Tweet about the stories you’re working on.

Obviously, don’t tweet about a scoop or big investigation. But most stories are on common topics and you can always be vague enough to allay fears of other media outlets swooping in before publication.

3. Tweet for sources on a story.

It shouldn’t take the place of working the phones, but it doesn’t hurt to leave a virtual post-it note for help.

4. Tweet about noteworthy interviews.

Ask your followers what they would like you to ask the interview subject. They might be interested in learning something you wouldn’t have thought to ask.

5. Tweet links to other stories you are reading within your beat.

If you’re interested in the story, you followers might be too. Make sure to use a URL shortener.

6. Tweet links to your published work.

When you send out links to your stories, make sure to think of the tweet like a lede. Be specific, use proper nouns and use a URL shortener.

7. Answer questions.

While it’s not necessary to read every tweet from everyone you follow, it’s absolutely critical to monitor when you’re Twitter name is mentioned. Answering reader questions lets followers know your human and builds rapport with readers.

There are many directions to go when using Twitter to improve your reporting. These seven suggestions should help in the beginning as you better learn how to integrate it into your daily routine.

MySpace Monday: Connecting with potential sources - Part 1

You should now have a separate professional MySpace page. You've tricked it out and convinced your normal friends to add you.

It's like being a politician. You had to start by galvanizing your base.

Now make MySpace work for you. Think about the type of people you'd like to connect with. Do a little networking. Add current sources and work toward adding potential sources. It isn't easy to be comprehensive, and you probably won't be, but if you're focused, you'll find a lot of interesting locals and people you might want to talk to now or later.

This week's topic: Adding new friends to your professional MySpace page.

Tip No. 1: Come up with a target.
Structure you're search for new friends based in the type of stories you'd like to write. Musicians, comedians and filmmakers are easy to find with little work. Venues, fellow writers, artists, college athletes, high school students or any other source base will take more time to find.

Tip No. 2a: Search for musicians.
Click the link for Music followed by the link for Top Artists. You can then search for bands within the radius of your zip code. Despite a few incorrect listings, you'll find unsigned, indie and major label artists from your area roughly organized by popularity. Be wary of the selected distance. Just 100 listings from the three categories show up. New or lesser known bands may not show up if you select within 20 miles of downtown Sacramento. Bands from Oakland will show up if you search within 50 miles. Decide how much time you want to spend searching. There are a little more than 1,000 relatively active bands within the greater Sacramento area. If you want to be hyperlocal, search within five or 10 miles. Then, categorize in groups as small as Elk Grove bands or Davis bands. More on categories next week.

Be aware: some local DJs and rappers have non-music pages and won't show up in the MySpace Music listings.




Tip No. 2b: Search for comedians.
Click the link for Comedy followed by the link for Comedian Search. Comedians can be searched in the same way as musicians. Select a distance, type in a zip code and sort by the amount of friends to find a starting list of comedians to add as friends. You'll find almost 20 active comedians within 25 miles of downtown Sacramento. Local comedians can also found among the top friends lists on the MySpace pages of comedy clubs. Local comedians are listed in the top friends lists of Laughs Unlimited, Punch Line Sacramento, Bistro 33 and Louie's Cocktail Lounge.

Tip No. 2c: Search for filmmakers.
Click the link for Movies followed by the link for Indie Film and then the link for Top Filmmakers. Filmmakers can then be searched within a selected radius. The search function doesn't look like it's working right now. I'll update this post tomorrow with examples of a recent search.

More to come tomorrow. Part two will offer tips to find groups that MySpace does not categorize as easily as musicians, comedians and filmmakers.

MySpace Monday: Starting your PROfile

MySpace is a blessing and a curse for journalists. There’s a wealth of information and many of its features can help when researching for a story.

Social networking is consistent presence in the Internet life of anyone in college and recent graduates. We’ve grown up with this technology and only as we enter the job force are many of us thinking about where we draw the line between our private and public lives.

Each week, I will write about how MySpace can make you a better journalist. I’ll offer suggestions, strategies and point out potential pitfalls.

This week’s topic: Developing a public profile.

I started working at SacLights.com at the end of last summer. One of my first responsibilities was to find the Web site and MySpace of every local musician. I wanted to do more than catalog data in a spreadsheet. I wanted to start connecting and collecting. Problem was, we didn’t have a MySpace for SacLights.com and I didn’t want to add bands as friends to my private MySpace. I figured it was a good opportunity to start a second, professional MySpace.




There are too many drawbacks to adding local contacts to your everyday, private MySpace. You may be inundated with concert invites. The status and mood feed will fill with notes from bands. The bulletin board becomes an unmanageable outlet for bands to post fliers. Bulletins and status updates by friends are quickly buried. Bands will regularly post fliers in comment sections, sometimes altering the look with large fliers. Connecting with friends is muddied when you add so many non-friend friends.

Distributed information becomes a concern. You can only control what your friends post if you’ve altered your privacy options. You may be tagged in a compromising photo, sensitive information might be posted in your comment section and, in the worst of case, your top friends list might become victims of harassment by angry sources. A profile pages says a lot about a person. It also leaves a lot lost in translation. A joke among your friends might be offensive to sensitive sources.

Enough about the potential dangers. Here are 10 steps to starting a professional MySpace:

Tip No. 1: Secure your private profile.
Make your private profile viewable only by your friends. Require approval before comments are posted. Take a hard look at what you post. You may think you’re profile is secure, but photos can be downloaded by friends and e-mailed around.

Tip No. 2: Start a professional profile.
Create a second profile using a work e-mail or professional e-mail address. Add the friends from your private profile so that your friend’s list isn’t empty. Send each of your friends a message to say that your second profile isn’t fake. You're privacy options can be more lenient, allowing for anyone to add you as a friend.

Tip No. 3: Post a headshot.
Add a couple of photos. Make sure you have some basic photos that allow sources to know what you look like — very beneficial for in-person interviews at public locations. Headshots are fine. If you’re friends tag you in photos using the private profile, make sure to deny those tags. If you’ve drawn a line of separation, make sure to keep it.

Tip No. 4: Flesh out your profile.
There’s nothing wrong with being truthful about your general interests, favorite movies, favorite music, favorite television shows, favorite movies, favorite books and personal heroes. Treat the schools section like you would the education section of a résumé. I treat my company section the same way. I’ve listed the six places where I have worked. You can hold back and list only your current position. The networking feature has never been too helpful. You can find other journalists and they can find you as long as you add it to your profile. Most important, tailor your about me section to your career. Talk about your skills. Employers make look at your professional profile page too.

Tip No. 5: Simple name, simple reference.
Make your MySpace URL something simple. You can use your URL as a calling card. Use your pen name if possible.

Tip No. 6: Post stories and photos.
Photographers should post an album of work. Writers should post some written examples using the blog feature. The blog system allows for HTML, so some multimedia work can be posted as well. It helps to show people what you can do.

Tip No. 7: Limit HTML and application use.
You want to make sure that you’re profile can be seen by anyone. Custom designs by third-party Web sites can slow down load times. Applications are typically more trouble then they’re worth.

Tip No. 8: The notification system is your friend.
It helps to allow for notifications. You probably don't want to check your professional and private MySpace each day. Notifications allow you to know when a band, comedian or venue has added you or sent you a message.

Tip No 9: Assessment.
You want a clean MySpace that offers the necessary information. If you can build your own Web site to show off your work, simply offer a link and do not repost all your work. If you’re a photographer and want to house your portfolio elsewhere, just post a couple of photos as examples and display a prominent link to more work. Re-read everything you’ve written for your profile. If this is your first point of contact with sources, you want them to know that you’re a good writer. Copyediting shouldn’t be a lost art.

Tip N0 10: Add to your heart's content.
Now you can go ahead and start adding new friends. Musicians, comedians and filmmakers are a good start. Nightclubs, tattoo parlors and business aren't segmented on MySpace yet, but you can find many of them. It's a good idea think about your scope. Do you want to keep your friends list to local sources or go national? The more friends, the harder it will be to segment them and find them later.

I hope my suggestions are helpful. Feel free to leave comments on this blog or by sending my a message through my MySpace page.

On the horizon (Update): The next MySpace Monday will detail a couple methods on finding local comedians, local music and local venues. I originally planned to talk about ways to make MySpace your digital Rolodex. That will come in the third post.