To tweet or not to tweet?

To tweet or not to tweet? Twitter is defined as a social networking and microblogging service that allows you to answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers."

With technology speeding by us at every minute, few have found the ingredients to put even Facebook in its shadow. Twitter has grown well out of its training wheels of the hard core social networking and tech savvy enthusiasts. Everyone is Twittering. I will admit at first when I heard about it, I didn't understand it. Why do I care about reading these updates? And more importantly, why do others care about reading my updates? But, it is a little more than updating "what you are doing." Twitter has many uses for both personal and business reasons. It's a great way to keep in touch with your friends and quickly broadcast information about anything from where you are and what you're up to. This is a networking tool that has completely changed the rules by instantly connecting you with a large group of people. You can ask questions, gain information, follow people in your field, look for work, post a job, share news, share thoughts, post photos, tell jokes, speak your mind, and just about anything else you want. All in one stop!

Ego? I have a small network of around 100 followers. That means they're following and reading my message updates. These followers are all over the globe. When I first joined Twitter, I joined to follow people in the news world. That branched off into photography, movies/TV, whatever I could dream of. I'll tell you, once you gain some followers, you'll get people to reply to your messages updates. I get a kick out of hearing from people all over the world... It's all about networking.

What do I "tweet"? I'll post photos from my phone while out in the field. I always post a link to my blog and for the news junkies, I post different stories I cover overnight. Working this shift, I run into some 'weird' stuff! During the weekends I won't hesitate to throw a little movie trivia up and see the responses pour in. I have so many random things going through my head, it's an outlet for me to communicate once and awhile. It's the easiest way to instantly connect with people, even if someone is reassuring me that I could be a little crazy.

Here are some examples of the random photos I've sent from my touch phone.

House fire in north Minneapolis

Monster Cat looking for a nap

Conan O'Brien visiting KARE 11

Shooting a concert at the Xcel

My dads African Grey, Buka bird

Morning sunrise in Golden Valley

Working fancam at the Wild game

Our KARE family has a few Twitters from 'Mom's Like Me' to 'KARE Weather'. Monitoring whom you're following is done from just about anywhere starting at the Twitter web site. You can go as far as having updates text messaged directly to your phone. Why would you want something sent to your phone? Perfect example, KARE can send you weather updates instantly...how cool is that? What's fun for me? I like following some of the stars and most of Hollywood is already logged in. I'm following Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, and Jimmy Fallon to name a few. I've exchanged a few Tweets with Jimmy and Conan and it's very entertaining hearing from them. Some give hour to hour random updates. If you have an interest, sign up and start searching... I'm sure you'll have a use for Twitter when your finished.
What my KARE Twitter friends saying?? Both good and bad??


KIM INSLEY: (KAREmorninggal)
Twitter is my new favorite site because it provides me with a feed of news headlines from newspapers, networks, online sites, etc. I can then click through the article (or not) depending on my interest. It has also been extremely helpful for finding sources for stories, and for hearing about things going on in the community that might make good stories. Why do I tweet? Primarily to direct people to KARE11.com. Also to give people a heads up on what we're doing, and to provide information. I view it as another way to reach people, and hopefully continue grow our audience.



PHOTOJOURNALIST BRIAN AUGUSTIN:
What's a Twit? I thought that was something on Monte Python?



DAVE SCHWARTZ:(Dave_Schwartz)
I use Twitter because it allows me to compete on the same platform with sports websites and bloggers. Most of which don't have the same access and resources that I do. So it allows me to compete on their level with better resources. It also gives me an opportunity to interact -- almost in real-time --with readers. I was able do so at the Jacques Lemaire press conference. My twitter followers posted questions and I was able to paint a better picture of what was going on for those who couldn't see it.



SVEN SUNDGAARD: (svensundgaard)
Well, since I'm about 48 hours old to it... I think it's great especially since I know how to post random pictures whenever I want from my phone now!



DIANA PIERCE: (DiKARE)
I'm sending out Twitter "tweets" because I've only been up and running for about two weeks... I don't have lots following yet. But... everyday... I have more folks signing up. I use it for Kare 11 News @ 4 updates. In my case, I think it's important that we use as many ways possible to reach our audience.



PHOTOJOURNALIST AETHAN HART: (Hartbeat11)
I just got started and find it a good way to get quick updates on news. It also works as a vehicle to promote Hartbeat, that blog that I turn out on a weekly basis.



ERIC PERKINS: (PerkatPlay)
I think it's a tad self-serving, but ultimately, the more involved in social networking we are, the more benefits we'll get from it, I believe. All the local sports teams are on it. Some players and coaches are on it. It's just another avenue in which to gather news. And as a journalist, we should take advantage of that.



Also, Check out our other KARE friends using Twitter!

 

Matt Lechner - Morning Executive Producer (KareEP)

Scott Goldberg - Reporter (ScottGoldberg)

Tom Lindner - News Director (TomLindner)

Bea Chang - Web Producer (beachang)

Patrick OShaughnessy - Sports Producer (p_oshan)
Karla Hult - Reporter (karlahult)

Joe Fryer - Reporter (joefryer)

Cindy Chapman - Mom's Like Me (MomslikemeMN)

Lonnie Hartley - Executive Producer (lahartley)

Photojournalist Nate Anderson - Don't forget to follow me! (natefanderson)

Jeff Kraker - Web Engineer (Jeff_Kraker)

Andrea Yoch - Intergraded Sales - (ayoch)

Jessica Petron - Sales (jessicapetron)

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By Nate Anderson, KARE 11 News   Read other posts from Nate's Overnight

 

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