It was a typical night on the job for Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Alex Shebar: A car had been found at the bottom of the Ohio River, possibly with a body inside. Armed with his Blackberry, Shebar was headed to the scene.
And if you’d been following Shebar on Twitter that night, you could have tracked his progress through his tweets:
- 8:10 p.m. A car was found in the Ohio River. Not sure if there's a body inside. Going down to check it out. Will update...
- 8:49 p.m. At the scene. Clermont County coroner is here, which means there is a body. More soon...(Here he added a link to a map of the scene)
- 9:13 p.m. The car, all kinds of rusted. They just put a sheet up to cover the scene. In the past, this is for a body. (Here he added a link to a photo of the scene.)
- 9:40 p.m. Dragging the car up by tow. The scene is emptying. Hopefully, they'll talk to the media soon. (Another link to a photo.)
- 11:07 p.m. Back. Stood at scene for hours, only to have police give nothing. Was able to confirm car belonged to missing woman.
By now Shebar had pieced together the story: The car dragged from the river was the one owned by a woman who had been missing for weeks. Police wouldn’t confirm the identity of the body found inside, but Shebar wrote a quick article for the Enquirer’s website and, using his Blackberry, included a link to it in one of his tweets.
He even used Twitter to link up with a freelance photographer who shot some pictures for the story.
It was just another story for Shebar, who, like a growing number of journalists, uses Twitter as a reporting tool the same way an earlier generation of reporters used notebooks and cellphones.
So many reporters and columnists are using Twitter, in fact, that a new website called MuckRack has, as its sole purpose, the job of collecting tweets from journalists around the country. It features tweets from reporters at dozens of media outlets, from NBC and The New York Times to Shebar's paper and others.
Keeping Twitter "Followers" Updated
Shebar says he regularly uses Twitter to keep his followers updated when he’s covering a story.
“I am a breaking news reporter and go through Greater Cincinnati covering events like shootings, fires, suicides, robberies and crimes, often in my follower’s backyards. They like to know what’s going on in Cincinnati - it’s why they read the paper and check the website in the first place,” he says in an e-mail interview.
“With Twitter, I can let them know as soon as it happens – as soon as anything happens. They don’t have to wait for the story to pop-up online… Even if I’m just going down to check something out, I’ll tell them about it. And when I find out what’s actually going on, I update them again,” he adds.
“Twitter allows the fast-paced web journalism to go faster. It won’t give my readers all the details, but it makes them interested enough to come back to the site, to buy a paper, to keep reading our news. Twitter is the appetizer, the story is the meal.”
Shebar also uses Twitter to get reactions to stories he’s already done, and to find ideas for stories he’s working on.
“I’m able to throw out a question to hundreds of my followers and see if anyone has an answer,” he says. “I’ve found sources for stories that I never would have found otherwise. I’ve also crafted pieces around an individual tweet, just because it was an interesting premise. When I have writer’s block, or am stumped on where to go with a story, twitter is a nice way to get back on track.”
“Twitter is the collective thoughts of a community, which, as a reporter, fascinates me,” he adds. “It’s very easy to sit in your newsroom and believe you know what the community is interested in… But in fact, the only way to really know what the community wants is to ask them. Twitter does that. Sit back, read the tweets, it becomes apparent what they are fascinated with and what they are sick of.”
Using Twitter To Find Sources for Stories
Jason DeRusha, a reporter for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, starts his day by using the Twitter application on his iPhone to find sources for his stories. Those sources can come from local PR types who follow DeRusha’s tweets, or from regular folks.
“Early in the day, I'll tell people what I'm working on, and ask for input,” he says. “Every good story starts with a question, so why not invite an active group of passionate people to share their input. The more ‘followers’ I have, the more likely someone directly affected by my story will be out there. I will use those Twitter comments on the air, or use the contact to set up an interview.”
For instance, when DeRusha was doing a story on allergies triggered by Christmas trees, he put that out in his Twitter feed. Within 15 minutes he was contacted by someone who had such severe allergies, she had to decorate her tree wearing industrial gloves.
DeRusha also uses Twitter to promote his work. “If I write a really interesting blog entry, or stumble upon a really provocative story, I'll put a link to that on Twitter,” he says. “It's important to not become a spammer, though. I don't promote every story I do, only the ones that I think will really resonate with the crowd.”
