Microblogging: Tweeting it's Way to the Top

Microblog - a social media site to which a user makes short, frequent posts. There are a many microblogs on the internet, including the most popular websites, Twitter and Tumblr. This blog post, however, will focus on Twitter as a tool for journalists, as Tumblr is mainly aimed at a younger audience and is largely image based. 

Microblogging seems to be taking over the web. From being a journalist, it is important to be the first to find, and then publish breaking news before anyone. In order to possibly find a different angle to a particular story, or to find sources or persons that were involved can be a difficult task. This article from 2013, shows in that year, three quarters of UK journalists find their stories through Twitter. Microblogging is a way of sharing news in a short format, possibly linking the public to certain news stories. It is a way of curating news; users are able to find, organise and share what they consider as best and more relevant content on a specific issue. 

Twitter was first introduced to the internet in 2006. Once it was released to the public, it did not have the popularity in which the creators thought it might. Many people did not understand the concept of writing something in only 140 characters. The initial idea was for users to write a short description of what they were doing in their daily lives - an idea that many people were ignorant to at the time. In recent years, Twitter has become more and more popular as a social media platform. It has become increasingly popular amongst professionals and journalists alike, as they are able to explore various resources, organisations and people that they are interested in. In turn, they are able to interact with other users, link to relevant material and find sources that might not be available anywhere else. 

There have been many occasions where the public have reported breaking news themselves before any major news organisations. This article on Mashable shows 9 stories that have been first reported on Twitter, by random members of the public. So many people tweeted about what they were experiencing before the news were able to report. This not only gives journalists a chance to research the event themselves, but also have key witnesses for their story.  For example, in 2008, hundreds of people in China tweeted about an earthquake: 

slightly dizzy after being shaken around by the Chengdu earthquake for several hours now
— Casper (@casperodj) May 12, 2008

EARTH QUAKE in Beijing?? Yup... @keso I felt it too!!
— dtan (@dtan) May 12, 2008

This leads to the next point, as Twitter is such an easy tool to search for topics by using the ‘#’ key. By typing anything into the Twitter search bar, thousands of results are found, and one is able to then define these results to what they need. Whatever information you need, Twitter will be able to help in some way. Be that finding a person, organisation, or a specific source for a story. Hashtagging is a way of grouping certain tweets together, creating trending topics. 

Distributing content is also something that works great on Twitter. Due to it also being an app on smartphones, it makes advertising one’s own articles so much easier, and quicker. People will be able to read it from wherever they are, whenever they want to. People will be able to retweet and favourite articles, which will then hopefully increase views and create acknowledgement. Consequently, acknowledgement from others will be able to build one’s career. 

From my experience, I had only used Twitter to connect with my friends, and write a tweet every few days about what I was doing - or what I was looking forward to at the weekend. However, I decided to start a fresh, and create a new 'professional' account; and it has given me the opportunity as a novice journalist to promote my work and interact with others - not only successful journalists, but also various people and organisations that are interested in the same topics as me, and what I have written about. From my bio, people have been able to see basic information about who I am, and can see links to my blog. 

Click here to see my latest Twitter posts. 

However, starting out on Twitter is a long process. Being able to get noticed takes time, but with perseverance and the correct use of hashtags; it does get easier to build connections and rapport with others. By following well-known journalists and journalism houses, users can become aware of what is happening in the news as a live feed, as well as journalists themselves as individuals. There is even a post on '100 Twitter Accounts Every Journalism Student Should Follow'. 

From this blog post, it is clear to say that journalism and microblogging go hand in hand. Microblogging gives journalists the ability to not only search, but enables them to create news from their fingertips.

Finnigan: Definitely Wrongigan

Judy Finnigan, formerly on what I remember as ‘Richard and Judy’, on daytime TV; has recently joined the Loose Women panel. On October 13th, they were discussing whether or not, former footballer Ched Evans, would be allowed back to work after he has been released early from prison for raping a young woman.

To get to the point, she was seen as essentially implying that more violent rapes were ‘worse’ than others, as such. This caused huge backlash on the social media site, Twitter. 

@judyfinnigan . Totally out of touch with reality, disgusting comments about rape!! And footballer is a privilege, not just any job.
— Mark Sayle Williams (@Sojace) October 13, 2014 

I always used to like Judy Finnigan but she was wrong what she said today. #LooseWomen
— tinasiddle (@tinasiddle) October 13, 2014

There were hundreds of tweets, mainly attacking Finnigan about what she had said. It has now been said that her job might be in jeopardy because of the negative reaction. This just proves how social media can be so powerful when a large amount of people discuss or exert their opinions. 

The BBC reported what she Finnigan said about the matter:

"The rape - and I am not, please, by any means minimising any kind of rape - but the rape was not violent, he didn't cause any bodily harm to the person.” 

"It was unpleasant, in a hotel room I believe, and she [the victim] had far too much to drink.”

It was as if she was trying to defend her point, even by expressing the fact that the victim had been drunk. Finnigan later apologised if her views were portrayed as offensive, or even condoning rape. In my opinion, I believe that Loose Women should have thought about their subject matter on the show. If they were to have known the Finnigan would have said this about such a sensitive matter in the first place, they would not have brought up this issue on daytime television. However, a spokesperson for Loose Women did say that they were aiming to have a discussion that involved mixed viewpoints. But was Finnigan's view too much?

There have also been numerous articles on the internet, by journalists, which have sparked a debate on whether or not Finnigan's opinions were taken out of context.

Judy Finnigan row: 7 rape myths which need busting. Badly - Telegraph
Dear Judy Finnigan - please don't apologise

These two articles are both opposite points of view by different journalists. One of them explores further, the 'myths' of rape, and how so many people have only one view of it as an act, and also the rapist themselves. The other, argues, surprisingly, from a feminist perspective - and how Finnigan should not have been forced to apologise as the backlash on social media just highlights how 'women's opinions aren't tolerated'. 

Has the recent media coverage on Finnigan had any affect on rape victims and the exposure of rape?

The issue here is that people need to be careful on how they word and express certain issues in the media, for fear of a negative or extreme responses. This was definitely the case. Statements can be misinterpreted, or misunderstood - yet there is not going to be one same response from an audience. You are never going to please everyone. 

If Finnigan had concluded that all rape was inherently the same - what reaction would that have caused on social media?

Journalism?

Dictionary.com defines journalism as: ‘the occupation of reporting, writing, editing, photographing or broadcasting news or of conducting any news organisation as a business’.

Throughout googling this definition, I found that most definitions focused purely on journalism as print. However, I now find myself looking online for news, be that through news websites such as the BBC, or going through my Facebook or Twitter feed for ‘trending’ news stories. I can actually say I haven’t bought a newspaper for at least a year. 

Journalism is a possible career that I wish to explore, increasing my knowledge and skills of collecting and analysing news. With that cliché of a love for writing and expressing my opinions; studying journalism as a unit with my English course may be a starting point to finding out what I want to do with regards to my potential future profession. I will put my hands up and admit, I am not the strongest writer - yet I hope that practice does make perfect. Learning the skills needed to become a journalist is something that has always appealed to me. But being honest, I still have yet to decide what I actually want to do with my life. The unit I'm studying, 'News and Journalism', has started to make me really think about journalism as a whole, and the way in which it has linked with social media to become an ongoing revelation. 

Journalism is constantly evolving. With print media becoming less popular, social media platforms such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook are so easily accessible. Everyone can write and express their own opinions on whatever topic they wish. This creates discussion, publicity but also backlash. 

The power of the media in the internet can be shown through the recent ‘#nomakeupselfie’ which circulated Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It raised over £8 million for Cancer Research; and created its own awareness through this scheme.

No-makeup selfies raise £8m for Cancer Research UK in six days

With my English degree mainly focusing on media, I hope this will give me the upper-hand to being able to get to grips on how journalism is constantly trying to adapt to various social media platforms. With this being said, I also hope by exploring this medium, I will finally have some idea of what I what kind of career path I am going to 'travel down', as they say. Yet it looks as if now, is a prime time to join the world of journalism.