In an ice storm, make your Tweets count…
December 15th, 2008
Friday’s ice storm proved to be an interesting case study in how folks are using Twitter to get the word out (or not).
I was awakened that day by my iPhone, which received this tweet from the State of Maine’s Twitter account @ http://twitter.com/www_maine_gov. I follow it for this very reason – to get citizen alerts on emergency conditions (kinda like the “Emergency Tweetcast Network”).
I haven’t been keeping track, but it seems like their follow count has increased quite a bit over the weekend.
I also follow @WCSH6 and @PressHerald on Twitter, and it was interesting to see how these conventional media outlets used the service. In terms of providing news-you-can-use, IMHO the results were not great, though @PressHerald came through at times.
Here are some example tweets from conventional media over the weekend:
Good:
http://twitter.com/PressHerald/status/1053143263
Yes, OK, fair warning. I’ll be careful out there.
http://twitter.com/PressHerald/status/1053778059
I feel bad for them; at least I know it’s a bad idea to run my generator in the basement.
Bad:
http://twitter.com/PressHerald/status/1055263330
Yes, lots o’ folks are w/o power. But that doesn’t help me much. Tell me where the downed power lines are, the large traffic accidents, what local authorities are saying to people in their respective communities about ETA of electricity.
http://twitter.com/WCSH6/status/1053509213
I could’ve guessed that. But I’m in my car on my mobile device – where are those roads?
http://twitter.com/PressHerald/status/1053582227
Street flooding? Where?!?
http://twitter.com/WCSH6/status/1052326387
Really?!? Drivers are sliding around? How about telling me where those roads/accidents are so I can avoid them?
http://twitter.com/WCSH6/status/1053359047
No shit, Sherlock!
If you’re going to tweet, please make it useful. If your mission is to provide information to the public, make sure that tweet contains actual information. Please don’t tweet and say, in essence, “go to my Web site for complete coverage”. A lot of folks had mobile devices that worked (the AT&T network was rock solid for me and my iPhone) but could not get to the ‘Net (my tweet peeps and I were hard pressed to find it all day Friday – I hear Portland coffee shops were crowded).
So, to news outlets: Don’t try to drive me to your Web site b/c your advertisers need pageviews for your banner ads. Gimme some news on the spot! If you don’t, I’ll gravitate towards others who will fulfill that need.
Seriously this blog is bad on so many different levels. Do your homework before you blog. The 1st negative WCSH link you complain about not posting road closures…I do believe there was a link to that information. Can’t fit it all into 140 characters or less, could they? The 2nd link about WCSH…it seems was posted in the early stages of the storm therefore giving a “general” warning to the public to be careful…period! As far as the last link is concerned…um hello that was strictly for people to view photos and upload their own photos. I do however agree the more info the better…I personally will continue to get my news from WCSH and not the portland press herald. Actually I would rather get my news from any of the other television outlets than the newspaper any day.
@Shauna,
Regarding the road closures tweet, my point is that though you have 140 characters, you should try to put squeeze something of value in the tweet itself. There were many people (including me) who couldn’t access the Internet this past weekend but who could get Twitter through the AT&T wireless network on a mobile device (iPhone).
Telling folks there’s a problem w/o _immediately_ giving them other information (such as where the worst conditions were) isn’t very helpful and actually causes more anxiety. I suggest that WCSH should try to shoehorn at least a smidge of info into their tweets. I used to work in broadcasting; I know it can be done.
BTW, I noticed that you posted your comment from a computer within the WCSH network:
Shauna (IP: 12.53.197.10 , wcsh-lclnscvi.wcsh6.com)
Do you work @ WCSH? Are you the one who tweets for them?
Rob,
Thanks for the feedback from a user’s perspective. @PressHerald, like many news organizations, is relatively new to Twitter, so we appreciate hearing from users like you about what works for you. Feel free to reply any time with tips & suggestions.
Angie Muhs, pressherald.com
@amuhs
@pressherald
@amuhs, Don’t mention it (and thanks for the follow). On balance, I think you guys are doing a fine job.
And we’re _all_ learning how to use Twitter.