Argumentative Paper about Twitter with Journalism

Journalists have discovered a new way to transmit knowledge to the public as a result of technical advances. Twitter is now being used to provide a lot of information that was previously only available in newspapers. Understanding how this advancement is used and recognizing its terms is the beauty of it. Understanding that one can only write up to 140 characters and that Twitter only communicates in a precise manner, for example (John 4). Twitter, by definition, is a website that allows users to quickly share their thoughts on any subject with other users on the site in 140-character bursts. Twitter has made newspapers to shrink due to the aspect of being instant. Journalists use Twitter to report different information mostly concerning the government. The essay is describing how well journalists should use the platform to be effective in their work.

Firstly, understands the social media and reasons for people using it. For journalists to interact with people on twitter, it is necessary for one to feel comfortable with how it works and the forces that trigger people to tweet out of their accounts. One of the partnerships at Twitter UK said that journalists should take the platform as a “passion and interest index.” This means that Twitter should be taken as a place where people project their emotions. The person added that humans have emotions and that has been the case even before the technology was introduced. Therefore, journalists have to get it that human beings do not function in black and white. The lists in the platform are important ways of managing the content found and filter the specific requirements by people. in doing this, cites like Tweet deck or Crocycle mat be used.

The other important way is honing the editorial method (Powers 456). After understanding how twitter works, journalists need to make decisions on how to use the platform in achieving their goals. Notably, there are many functions one would conduct using twitter. One is sharing one’s content. These refer to times when media uses Twitter to report issues concerning the nation. Journalists travel from place to place and later tweet about the events in a brief manner. Apart from that, one would use Twitter to source new stories. These are narrations that were done in the past and people would read them today and understand concepts. An example of a story is how FT got one million followers. Sharing on other organizations experience could also be carried out on Twitter. It is mostly used by business people who learn from other organization that begun earlier. However, with the nature of the platform, explaining all these in 140 words is at times not possible. Therefore, journalists provide articles that direct people to the entire information. Instead of complaining that the platform to too shallow, people ought to give little information and give the links to the article which make the readers get the whole concept.

Journalists should also make their profiles easy to locate though it should not be too easy. In twitter, the bio has to be quick and easy for followers to know who you are, working place and little about the person. Giving eye-catching descriptions is necessary as it easily attracts people. Making it easy also helps the readers easily understand it. However, fruitful socio networks are green pastures for hackers. Hackers carry one’s data which prevents one from carrying out work in twitter. This makes it necessary for journalists to ensure that the accounts are secure to prevent hackers from taking the personal data. Apart from that, journalists should make use of available tools to ensure full engagement. In twitter, a huge marketing group is not needed in making work successful. It is because; there are many types of free apps that enable one interacting with followers in various ways. For example, while sharing audios, Chirp is available which allows one to record clips shortly and instantly tweet them. Longer audios could use Clammer that presents the audios to followers. Notably, while presenting the short video’s subtitles are important to ensure that the auto play function is used in the right way and the concept gets to the followers even when sound is not involved. Since pictures are a good way to catch the eyes of the follower. Twit Shot is useful.

Moreover, journalists should get stories to tweet ethically. One of the major benefits of Twitter is that the journalists interact with the citizens directly. Though that is taken as an advantage, once the information is leaked, the victims and the witnesses should be well protected since the impact of a direct point is noted at that point. Ethics, in this case, comes in the way the journalists gather information and tweets it for other people to access. The manner should be ethical to prevent people from breaking the law in the name of expressing their emotions.

However, some people criticize using Twitter by journalists due to some reasons. One of the reasons is that the nature of the platform is not conducive to news and other functions. To the point that a person could only write up to 140 words, some people feel that the words are too little to communicate (Thurman & Neil 845). Apart from that, people only get to twitter while checking what other people have posted and necessarily to check the news. Therefore, bearing that the platform is not only used for news, chances of people missing information re higher compared to using newspapers. Even when people read the news, little information is attained because of its nature.

In conclusion, the paper has been based on twitter and how journalists to pass information are using the platform. The essay has analyzed ways in which journalists could make good use of the web and convey information simply to citizens. Though some people claim that it is not helpful, Twitter has rapidly grown, and its benefits are amazing. The point of less information-reaching people is not tangible because as said, journalists give links to articles that help readers to read the entire information. For individuals who join Twitter only to check what people have posted, unless the person does not know how to use the platform, then the person will only get little info. However, a person who has understood the platform and how it works as well as the functions it carries out, and then the person gets the news. Surprisingly, getting the news on Twitter is simpler because the journalists do not hide the information, apart from securing their accounts. Therefore, Twitter is useful in conveying information.

Works cited

Dickerson, John. “Don’t fear Twitter.” Nieman Reports 63.2 (2008): 5-6.

Powers, Matthew, and Sandra Vera-Zambrano. “How journalists use social media in France and the United States: Analyzing technology use across journalistic fields.” New Media & Society (2017): 1461444817731566.

Thurman, Neil, et al. “Giving Computers a Nose for News: Exploring the limits of story detection and verification.” Digital Journalism 4.7 (2016): 838-848.