August 17, 2011

Mashable
The Onion recently passed the milestone of 3 million Twitter followers by using “many of the same tactics used by real news outlets,” Mashable’s Sarah Kessler reports. Onion Project Manager Matt Kirsch says they live tweet major events, like the Oscars and the Super Bowl, sometimes with writers contributing in real time. The Onion also jumps onto developing stories, such as the killing of Osama bin Laden. One secret to Twitter success: The power of a great headline. “The Onion is perfect for Twitter because our headlines are so entertaining — we can create our own news and make it seem more exciting,” Kirsch said. || Related: What The Onion can teach real news organizations about social media

Following the death of Osama bin Laden, The Onion made up facts when few were available. This shortlink was clicked almost 7,300 times.
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Jeff Sonderman (jsonderman@poynter.org) is the Digital Media Fellow at The Poynter Institute. He focuses on innovations and strategies for mobile platforms and social media in…
Jeff Sonderman

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