Twitter is playing an integral role in the evolution of the news industry — both as a tool for reporters and newsrooms and as a way for consumers to find news in real-time. Twitter has already changed the way news breaks and provided journalists new ways to connect with their readers. We are looking for a seasoned leader to shape and drive the next growth phase of Twitter’s partnership with the news industry. We believe Twitter is a valuable complement to the great work already being done and want to find ways for Twitter to help ensure the industry’s success.
You will be responsible for devising and executing the strategies that make Twitter indispensable to newsrooms and journalists, as well as an essential part of the operations and strategy of news organizations and TV news networks. You should have a strong vision for the broad potential of Twitter and news, while also being able to rigorously manage and scale the news team’s daily impact.
You will be also Twitter’s representative to the News industry. You will manage Twitter’s partnerships with newsrooms in the United States as well its relationships with journalists. You will be responsible for representing Twitter at industry events.
You must have deep experience leading teams in reporting, editing or managing journalists, as well as a strong record of executing strategic partnerships. (This role will report to Head of Media)
The thing is, I think that The Guardian’s enthusiasm–while infectious in that reserved, British-style–might actually be well-placed. The updates that have come through Twitter on newsworthy events like the Boston Bombing were timely and uncannily accurate; crowd sourcing huge public events like that give you a very accurate picture. Twitter as a communications platform is unrivaled for real-time information.
And before you laugh at the thought of news in 140-character bites, consider how that limitation would force you as a reporter to not embellish who, what, where, when. Why and how? Well, maybe that becomes a link to a more in-depth piece. But by its very limited nature, Twitter should remove the editorial from news reporting.
The problem is, and will always be, about the credibility of the news sources. But that is the problem with the MSM, too. CNN has crashed and burned so many times with bad reporting that few people turn to them any longer. The challenge with Twitter for news junkies is going to be the same challenge with using Yelp: who do you believe?
Last night was such a s***-show for the MSM, and unbelievably the best news reporting on the dramatic attacks in Boston was coming from the merging of old technology–Police Scanners–and social media on Twitter.
The Tweets from on-the-ground people in Boston, Watertown, Cambridge were timely and highly accurate. There was a journalism professor and a bunch of his students and/or colleagues who happened to be in the area and they set up a makeshift newsroom in someone’s apartment, and out-performed CNN (hard to believe, I know) just by literally looking at what was going on outside on their street, and following the scanners. They would decrypt some of the more arcane police codes and report what the police were saying to each other.
(Note that Police Scanners do not transmit in real time and also note that they do not give locations. There is no tactical information in scanners that criminals could discern to their advantage, or at least that is my understanding.)
The Bostonians were reporting facts for several hours before someone got Jake Tapper in front of a camera. It was absolutely amazing to watch my Twitter Timeline roll past with nugget after nugget of news (interspersed of course with all the robots and timed marketing tweets)
Anyway, I think last night citizen journalists were media heroes, and Twitter shined bright. It was completely unexpected and pretty marvelous to watch.
You can join the fun, too: We’re using the Mock, Paper, Scissors hashtag of #2012GoatRodeo. Pro tip: if you click the little box that says Tweet #2012GoatRodeo, you can tweet right from MPS! (I think you have to have a Twitter account though. Test it and see!)
Tengrain and Axel Grease are live-tweeting the debate between the Kenyan Usurper Hawaiian Devil Baby and His Willardness, the Stench. Drinking game rules are below the Tweet box.
You can join the fun, too: We’re using the Mock, Paper, Scissors hashtag of #2012GoatRodeo. Pro tip: if you click the little box that says Tweet #2012GoatRodeo, you can tweet right from MPS! (I think you have to have a Twitter account though. Test it and see!)
Drinking Game Rules
One drink:
Reagan
“By Golly”
A Willard Zinger
Revenue Neutral
Middle class
Obamacare
47%
Two drinks:
Birth Certificate
“You People!”
Rafalca
And that concludes the MPS live-coverage of the Preznintial debate. Your blushing editors, Axel Grease and Tengrain, will now take an asperin and come up with an amusing reason we call in sick tomorrow. Suggestions are always welcomed.
Dead Dude? Ambassador Stevens — there was plenty of the 140 characters left to spell it out, but I suppose when you leave your integrity in Al Capone’s vault…
I had to shut off Twitter and stop listening to Queen Ayn talk about how women have it harder than men and that’s why you should vote for her husband who will make it even harder by taking away women’s healthcare and forcing them to bear their rapists children.
David Chaney has been identified as the Secret Service supervisor who retired under pressure this week in the wake of the prostitution scandal rocking the agency.
On the bright side, he’s worked with ladies of ill repute before.
Twitter kinda-sorta lets you create fan-fic account. Anyway, this Frothy impersonator is putting up all kinds of fun, elaborate puns about that mix of lube and fecal matter.
You link to me, I link to you; but I do not link to commercial eCommerce sites. Yes, it is that simple. Send me an email to let me know. Tengrain AT mockpaperscissors DOT com.
