Twitter.

It’s the one thing that comes to mind when you hear the word microblogging. In what way can we possibly cover news in less than 140 characters?

What is microblogging?

It’s the idea that lets individuals write and share small content of news online via short sentences, images or video links.

It is an effective medium for journalists to use to break news. But what many people don’t also see is that it works both ways. It lets journalists find breaking news from local citizens as well. When Captain Sully landed the plane in Hudson River, people had tweeted the plane landing’s picture before traditional media even got there.

Microblogging also opens the door for crowdsourcing and building communities. By building a community on a website such as Twitter, people can form real connections, build a network and even gain a job (see previous Mandy Jenkins blog). It lets people conduct public interviews, find news leads and connect with their audience.

And finally, microblogging lets you market yourself. By building your own brand, you give yourself a reputation…whether it’s a good or bad one… that is on you.

Happy reading folks.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Briggs Chapter Summaries.  Tagged Briggs, Crowdsourcing, Marketing, Microblogging, Social Media, Twitter You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.