Steve Outing, who contributes to the E-media Tidbits column for Poynter Online, says the breaking-news blog is about to be supplanted (or
supplemented) by the Twitter breaking-news feed.
Think of an event that you want to cover as it happens — something big that’s of interest to many in your school community. A big game? A crime or major accident involving someone from school?
Here’s what Outing says to do:
reporters out to cover the story, get them to post short bits of news
(limited to 140 characters) to a Twitter
feed that either you’ve set up for this story, or that you keep ready
for significant breaking news. With reporters filing short bits from
their cell phones, you’ll be able to offer your audience new
information even faster than you could with a breaking-news blog.
“Rescue crews just pulled a body out from under the 12th Street
Bridge.” “Police are chasing an apparent suspect on foot near the
downtown library.”
Feed this to your site and to subscribed cell phone alerts. Urge
your readers to “follow” your breaking-news Twitter stream from their
own Twitter accounts.
Practice on a non-emergency story. Pinpoint something your school community is passionate about. Tell your school that you’ll be covering that story live, as it happens, and how to be a part of it. Send three or five or 10 reporters to cover that something, and have them file their dispatches via Twitter.
Talk about ramping up the timeliness of a monthly student newspaper, eh?
