Twitter is like a news wire where millions of news flashes are published every day. The information is not vetted or verified by professional journalists. It is raw information. Some of it is posted by first-time Twitter users; some is posted by Twitter addicts. In between, there are millions who are irregular tweeters.
A large percentage of tweets are personal or irrelevant for a professional journalist. Yet, if you are a journalist you must monitor Twitter closely. You never know when you stumble across a tweet that is explosive. More than that, you need to monitor all tweets that pertain to your beat.
Most important, you have to build the trust of Twitter users. Here are five steps that can help you build trust:
# Step 1
Create an account: This is the obvious starting point. You need to have a Twitter account, where you state your name, designation and organisation name. You should not use a pseudonym or provide incomplete information. Also, please make sure that you post your photograph. Your profile is the starting point for any meaningful interaction on Twitter. It must evoke trust, and belief that you are who you claim to be.
# Step 2
Tweet all events on your beat: You must tweet every scrap of newsworthy information that you come across while working on your beat. This information must be tweeted in real time. Of course, you should not tweet unverified information. Your tweets must be factual, if Twitter users have to develop confidence in your tweets.
# Step 3
Examine tweets that are relevant to your beat: This is an important filter. You need not worry about the information storm that rages on Twitter. Your goal is mining information relevant to your beat. You therefore need to search for all tweets pertaining to your city, locality and your beat. You will have to be patient because tweets are random by nature. There is no precise methodology that Twitter members follow to tweet. The best is to use Twitter Advanced Search. With time, you will start netting the right tweets.
# Step 4
Become a follower: One mistake that most journalists make is to expect people to follow them. They feel ashamed to follow others. You should not make this mistake. Start following all tweeters whose tweets are relevant for you. There are two benefits of such a strategy. One, your tweet feed will start getting populated with tweets related to your beat; and two, your network will start taking shape.
Step 5
Convert trusted followers into real contacts: Over a period of time, you will be able to decide which Twitter user to trust and which one to be careful about. You should now use the DM or direct Messaging feature on Twitter, provide your phone number or e-mail address and establish personal contact. As your network grows, you can now use the trusted contacts to verify tweets made by others.
All this will surely take time. So, you need to be patient. Don’t expect Twitter to start delivering results from Day One.
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