Screencasts - by Patrick Thornton on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 11:34 - View Comments

Screencast: How to use Twitter for reporting

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This screencast goes over how I use Twitter for reporting.

This is not a beginner video, but many newcomers to Twitter will be able to watch this and quickly understand what is going on. In the future, we will have a beginner video and more advanced videos, but we first wanted to create a video that shows how Twitter can be a useful reporting tool.

This video goes over:

  • Why I use Twitter for reporting
  • The importance of a good profile
  • The value of search.twitter.com
  • Desktop clients like TweetDeck
  • How to get an RSS feed of a search term
  • And more

This is our second screencast video. You can find our first about Publish2 here. Both of these are pilots, and we would greatly appreciate any feedback.

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  • http://virtualjournalist.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/twitter-tweetdeck-and-you/ Twitter, TweetDeck and you « Virtualjournalist

    [...] Thornton goes over the importance of Twitter for him as a reporting tool, and offers advice to get others to follow you. He also introduces [...]

  • http://future-of-news.blogspot.com EB

    Really great video, Patrick.

    I posted a link to it on a board full of journalists I know, who are trying to get up-to-speed on all kinds of new media.

    Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.

  • http://www.willekeurigheid.nl/random/2009/02/12/tweetdeck/ Tweetdeck « Willekeurigheid
  • http://www.suzanneyada.com Suzanne Yada

    Hi Pat, thanks for doing this! I was going to do something similar but for beginners. I just don’t have a) the software for screencasts or b) the time.

    But I wanted to say a couple of things:

    * You skipped a huge huge part of search.twitter.com: the Advance Search! That to me is the most powerful part of the site. The fact that you can choose search words AND search within x miles of a location makes it just that much more useful. If I were beat blogging environmental issues in the Austin area, it wouldn’t do me much good to just search “environment.”

    * Because the screencast cuts off the address bar, we couldn’t see the URL for TweetDeck. Naturally you can Google it separately and find that it’s at tweetdeck.com, but this has happened in a previous screencast too, and it wasn’t that easy to deduce what you were doing. I’d prefer (if you can) to zoom out so we can see what tabs you have open.

    In any case, though, this was a useful screencast and I can’t wait until you release a beginner’s guide to Twitter for journalists. I want to show others how useful the site is, but that “Twitter in Plain English” video just isn’t cutting it. :)

  • http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2009/02/12/links-for-2009-02-12/ links for 2009-02-12 – Innovation in College Media

    [...] Screencast: How to use Twitter for reporting | BeatBlogging.Org Patrick Thornton explains how Twitter can be a legitimate reporting tool. (tags: journalism twitter) [...]

  • http://igreenbaum.com Kurt Greenbaum

    Nice one, Pat. I was digging Twhirl quite a bit, but you might have talked me over to TweetDeck.

  • http://www.igreenbaum.com/2009/02/interesting-stuff-i-saw-online-feb-9-to-feb-13/ Interesting stuff I saw online, Feb. 9 to Feb. 13 | STL Social Media Guy

    [...] Screencast: How to use Twitter for reporting – Beatblogging.org: "This screencast goes over how I use Twitter for reporting. This is not a beginner video, but many newcomers to Twitter will be able to watch this and quickly understand what is going on." [...]

  • http://beatblogging.org/2009/02/24/college-media-outlets-have-a-long-way-to-go-with-twitter/ College media outlets have a long way to go with Twitter | BeatBlogging.Org

    [...] peers aren’t doing any better. The CICM post has good tips on how to use Twitter. We have a screencast on how to use Twitter for reporting, and here is a list of reasons why Twitter makes sense for [...]

  • http://dimitripesin.wordpress.com/ Dimitri

    More please :)

    But not just about Twitter – other useful tools you use as well.

    Thanks for spending time on doing this video.

  • http://beatblogging.org/2009/03/12/screencast-advanced-twitter-tips-tricks-searchtwittercom/ BeatBlogging.Org – Screencast: Advanced Twitter tips & tricks – search.twitter.com

    [...] you’re new to Twitter, I recommend checking out our first screencast on Twitter, “How to use Twitter for reporting.” We have a Twitter 101 screencast coming [...]

  • http://mashable.com/2009/05/14/twitter-journalism/ The Journalist’s Guide to Twitter

    [...] Thornton (@jiconoclast), editor and lead writer of BeatBlogging.org, posted a great how-to video outlining the tools he uses for Twitter for reporting, finding story ideas, monitoring beat [...]

  • http://thetechtown.com/the-journalist%e2%80%99s-guide-to-twitter/ The Tech Town » The Journalist’s Guide to Twitter

    [...] Thornton (@jiconoclast), editor and lead writer of BeatBlogging.org, posted a great how-to video outlining the tools he uses for Twitter for reporting, finding story ideas, monitoring beat [...]

  • http://beatblogging.org/2009/05/14/thursday-dose-of-social-media-twitter-half-fixes-replies/ Thursday Dose of social media: Twitter half fixes @replies | BeatBlogging.Org

    [...] only people new to Twitter, but also for people looking to get better at it. Also, check out our screencast on using Twitter for reporting. It’s one of the easiest ways to learn how to use [...]

  • http://karenfreberg.com/blog/?p=885 From the typewriter to tweeting – how journalists are using Twitter in reporting | Karen’s Public Relations Blog

    [...] However, one of the main professions that seems to be using social media are journalists.  I have several friends from both USC and Tennessee that are on Twitter that are in journalism, and it is interesting to see how they use this social medium.  Here is a good article from Mashable that provides a guide for journalists that want to use Twitter.  From creating social networks with other journalists online to providing the right media tools to providing insightful videos on how to use Twitter to report stories. [...]

  • http://beatblogging.org/2009/06/26/how-to-attract-followers-on-twitter-and-build-a-useful-network/ How to attract followers on Twitter and build a useful network | BeatBlogging.Org

    [...] is a phenomenal powerful reporting tool. We have a tutorial that will help you learn how to use Twitter as a reporting [...]

  • Erin Riley

    Thanks so much for the video. Really learned a lot. Still cannot #fing #figure #out #why #the #hashtag???

  • http://thesocialmediaguide.com.au/2009/08/20/twitter-tips-ultimate-guide/ Twitter Tips Ultimate Guide | Using social media to guide and help you connect to social networks: Twitter, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, YouTube using social media

    [...] Screencast: How to use Twitter for reporting – BeatBlogging [...]

  • http://ysung.edublogs.org/2009/08/26/more-tools-for-reporting/ More tools for reporting | Multi-Media Journalism
  • http://journgrad.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/hello-world/ Readings&Resources « Multimedia Journalism

    [...] How to use Twitter for reporting Patrick Thornton http://beatblogging.org/2009/02/11/screencast-how-to-use-twitter-for-reporting/ [...]

  • http://www.curledesign.com/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-twitter/ Everything you ever wanted to know about Twitter | Charles Curle Design

    [...] Screencast: How to use Twitter for reporting – BeatBlogging [...]

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About BeatBlogging.org

BeatBlogging.org was a grant-funded journalism project that studied how journalists used social media and other Web tools to improve beat reporting. It ran for about two years, ending in the fall of 2009.

New content is occasionally produced here by the this project's former editor Patrick Thornton. The site is still up and will remain so because many journalists and professors still use and link to the content. BeatBlogging.org offers a fascinating glimpse into the former stages of journalism and social media. Today it's expected that journalists and journalism organization use social media, but just a few years ago that wasn't the case.

About the Author of this post
Patrick Thornton is the editor and lead writer of BeatBlogging.Org. He is @pwthornton on Twitter.