Link: Actually, most news orgs use the service as a glorified RSS feed

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Surprise, surprise. This revelation shouldn’t come a shocker to social-savvy journos. I think the value of Twitter is as an aggregator for news orgs, with the ability to tune into whoever you want, where ever they may be, for instant information. Sure, it’s important to understand that true communication is two-way, but lets be honest. In the hustle and bustle of your daily life as a journalists, you have to pick and choose how you use your time. For me, the best strategy is to save conversations for Google+ or Facebook. Use Twitter for information gathering.

… not a likely combination, apparently.

Jim Romenesko did his research. He identified the top ten newspapers in the country and looked up their editors on Twitter.

• Four of the ten appear to have no Twitter account whatsoever.
• Three others have accounts that are secret or inactive.
• One others has not tweeted since June.
• One (NYDN editor Kevin Convey) has an active, currently updated Twitter account.

Gawker poked fun here as well.

(source: @futurejournalismproject)

Link: Why local news sites need Twitter during bad weather.

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To me, this article is kind of a given. You could just re-write the title to “Local news sites need Twitter in bad weather” and be done with it. Nevertheless, here is yet another proponent to why sites like Storify.com can be used as valuable resources to web journalists putting together packages on damage reports, road closings, etc. Not to mention, resources like this give real-time peace of mind when peace is the furthest thing away.

No. I’m not some sort of social media guru, and I don’t plan on ever being one. So please don’t read this as a second installment on “Why I Don’t Facebook,” because I’m probably the last person to teach people how to use social media.

Here’s the thing. I’ve had a Twitter account since long before most of my friends, and loved it for the simplicity of communication. As a journalism student, I  embraced it as an incredible way to merge social attitudes and news consumption.

Then came that job where I had to manage like 20 Twitter accounts, and before I knew it, I was following TONS of people … even had that software that told me when people unfollowed me, and automatically followed people who followed me. I sort of hated myself for what I allowed Twitter to become. It was no longer a way for me to get bite-sized pieces of info on my close friends and favorite news orgs. It had become a cluster of information overload … and a Twitter clean up was long overdue.

So. Very carefully over the past few weeks, I’ve been organizing the people I follow like crazy. Making lists, named for the reason I follow them, I put those that I follow into those categories. Then, I unfollowed.

GASP. I know… it’s worse than a Facebook breakup for the world to see, or accidentially sending an @reply when you meant to send a DM. It’s a relationship ruiner and all around crappy way to treat that Tweep.

Eh. I feel OK about it. I took the number of people I follow from around 250 down to 99. So my timeline is only filled with my close friends, a few news sources and favorite personalities (couldn’t quite let go of @grammarhulk or @OHnewsroom).

Now, I feel closer to my friends and know the answer to the original question “What’s happening?” in the lives of my friends. When I need my nerdy journo fix, I read up on Poynter articles and MediaBistro posts. I have a list for foodies, local news and business, favorite magazines and SEC football. Imagine that… I’m in control of what information is brought to me. Amazing concept.

Maybe this is just a post for those who might have noticed the unfollow. Perhaps I need to justify why I ended Twitter relationships. I reckon I might be a little concerned that people won’t take the consolation prize of making a Twitter list as a fun prize to receive. Maybe it might just be affirming for me to say what I need to hear from myself again.

Sigh. Life is totally better on the other side, though. I encourage a good follower clean-up for those who long for the days of 140-character simplicity and keeping up with friends. That is, of course if you manage like 20 Twitter accounts.

In that case, I recommend a therapist and a trip to a white sandy beach.