Tweeting Live

A most famous recent live tweet An eyewitness live-tweets Michael Brown’s shootinglive-tweets

Remember Live tweeting is replacing that newspaper story or live broadcast. Your live tweet needs to be a complete story.

You have to tell me where you are and give me a little background. Who is the speaker, why are they speaking, what are their qualifications.

You need to use capitalization, correct grammar and spelling, and avoid typos. Avoid abbreviations if possible. Use AP style. (Obviously in “Breaking News” this is not as key). You need first and last names. You need identifiers. Use hashtags Avoid first person (I/me) in meeting/speech, etc. contexts.

Tweet quotes

Tweet details

Tweet developments

And of course photos

Don’t forget you can use transitions, too Folkenflik did this TuesdayFolkenflik did this Tuesday when news broke about controversial comments made by Ron Schiller, NPR’s senior vice president for fundraising, whose resignation became effective immediately. To tie together his tweets on this news, Folkenflik used words such as “therefore,” “continued” and “update,” and tweeted related links for context.controversial commentsresignation became effective immediatelythereforecontinuedupdatetweeted related links

When you tweet photos Include “caption” information. (Describe the action, identify the people, put picture in context, use present tense)

A sample from Ron SylvesterRon Sylvester

Live promotions: TweetupsTweetups

Some tips Tell followers that you’re live-tweeting, offering a good-natured warning/apology to regular followers who won’t be interested (but will notice the heavy stream of tweets). Give people a sense of place (set the scene) Use all your senses Set a hashtag for the event and use it (or if the event has one use theirs). The ideal hashtag is short, catchy, unique and easy to understand. Add quotes. If can’t fit it all in one, can have a quick follow-up Photos Professional opinion and comment (Mix play-by-play with commentary (if commentary is appropriate for your role in your newsroom) Watch for: key moments, trends, shifts, natural stopping points. Don’t feel the need to transcribe the whole event. Tweet important or interesting quotes, actions, developments, observations, crowd reactions. Don’t forget background (can link to this) Don’t forget to retweet applicable tweets Don’t forget to when talking about specific people Try to maintain interaction (watch replies and respond) Source: Live Tweeting Tips Source: Live Tweeting Tips and Suggestions but not StandardsSuggestions but not Standards

From social media guru Jay Rosen, j- prof Being as economical as I can in my word selection is also a constant, because as everyone knows you only have 140 characters, 117 with the link. The most important thing to me is probably beauty, or at least avoiding ugly. I hate abbreviations. I hate acronyms. I use correct punctuation. I look for flow, music or a striking image that will stick in the mind. beauty, or at least avoiding ugly