Building A Better Newsroom

Does Twitter Give the Competition An Advantage?

One of the very first questions I heard from several people when we started using twitter is, “are you careful about what you put on there so the competition doesn’t know what we’re doing?“ My question, “Is it about the competition or is it about getting information to people as fast as possible while building conversation and relationships?“

There are two ways to look at this, we can either get information to people in the way they want, when they want it, or we can hold information back so we don’t give it to the competition. Traditionally, media companies would hold information back until the next newscast so they didn’t tip off the competition. There was a competitive edge to “breaking” the story on TV.

The problem with the “traditional” way of looking at this is that it assumes people can or will wait for the story to be “broken” on TV. Ten years ago, people would wait. But in an environment where anyone can break a story with a cell phone, people expect news as it’s happening.

When I send my reporters out at 10 AM to start working on stories, would I be giving the competition an edge by listing all of the stories on Twitter? It would certainly give them a blueprint for what we’re doing. But wouldn’t they then just be reacting to us? And wouldn’t it be even more obvious that they are reacting to what we’re doing? There are arguments to be had on either side. It will mean that we will have to turn these stories faster than ever. Reporters will have to be posting their stories to the website before noon, sometimes before they’ve shot any video at all.

I’d love to hear what you all think, though, I’m aware that most of you will want the news now, on Twitter. Is there ever a case where you think we should hold information from a business standpoint?

It seems weird to ask those questions, because I have always operated under the idea that the more information we can get out and the speed at which we do so, is the degree to which our customers will judge us.

Transparency and openness is the key. Sacrificing this aspect essentially erases the main fascination of Twitter, and thus alienates the possibility of building any relationships.

Keep up the good work. It’s making a difference.

As you said, we want the news as soon as we can get it and twitter is a great platform for doing just that.

Being open, honest and approachable will set you apart from the others who are closed and old media thinking. I think this in turn makes for good business and will attract people.

It’s about being forward thinking and not being stuck in the old media ways. People have a wide degree of choice when it comes to local news and this way of thinking will certainly set you apart.

Not to go off on a complete tangent (it’s sort of related). The news promo spots that say things like “Will it rain tomorrow? find out at 11”. That’s not an actual example, but those few second promo spots that tease for a later news cast is what I am talking about. Maybe it’s just me, but those bug me.  I know they intend to get people to watch the news cast at that time, but to be honest they make me not want to watch.  I would have preferred that in that 10 second spot you actually told me if it was going to rain.

Sorry just had to get that off my chest. Keep up the good work.

I think that the collaboration via Twitter is a wonderful thing. You are able to build stories through all of our networks that you wouldn’t other wise have.  And, in turn, people know you are receptive so they are more likely to give you information you wouldn’t necessarily receive.

You’ve been able to have a dialogue with people like me and @larak about things you’d like to cover in the future.  And it encourages us to think differently about what is news worthy and makes us better sources.

I don’t think you have to worry about other competitors getting a leg up on you.  A big part of this is the relationship itself and the ongoing conversation that leads to news that no one else is even thinking about.  It really makes your station unique.

Ryan,
I agree with all of the previous comments and want to add that on twitter and in other social media sites we are not only viewers, we are journalists and reporters. By building these relationships, we can take the news and have deeper relevant conversations with others in our community, such as on twitter but also on our blogs. If you as a news team are listening and participating to those conversations, then you learn directly from us what we know, want to know and how to improve to provide us with quality news. It’s not about competition to get the scoop on a story like a robbery or something, it’s about providing balanced, unbiased information to your community and being an active participant in it. Here is an example for you that I just posted on my blog this morning: http://merrycricket.blogspot.com/