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. Great for the start before anything happens. Get all this information ahead of time (name spellings, background, etc.) You will need to do prep work.

Some basics you might not think of 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. It’s great to set up one for the event itself. Avoid first person (I/me) in meeting/speech, etc. contexts.

Tweet quotes

Tweet details

Tweet developments

And of course photos

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

Don’t forget you can use transitions, too Folkenflik 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.

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). (So they can mute you if they want) 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 (if quality enough. Obviously in Breaking News that’s not as important) 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). It’s also a great filler. 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

More tips *You can interview someone. Share photo and quote from participant, organizer. * You can share a short video (if good quality). Don’t throw up something of poor quality unless it’s catching Breaking News action. *Share fun anecdotes or share exchanges you hear in audience. *Note any significant pause (halftime, intermission) MOST IMPORTANTLY: Check facts before you hit tweet. It’s better to pause and check a fact/name than to tweet an error.

A sample from Ron SylvesterRon Sylvester

Live promotions: Tweetups and TweetchatsTweetups Tweetchats

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