Twitter is all about bridging cross-generational gaps. At least – that's what you might think after reading the introduction to Twitter for Newsrooms, or #TfN, the newly launched resource guide from the Twitter Media team. Some of you might be "native to the pilcrow, others native to the hashtag," it reads, "but you share a common bond: the desire to make a difference in the world, bringing reliable information to the communities you serve."
To further that mission, #TfN is geared to help you use Twitter as a better journalism tool. It's a How-To meets Who's Who of the Twittersphere, a combination of best practices, helpful examples and features, and links to support and resources.
If you're a journalist already pretty active on Twitter, learning about TweetDeck or Backtype may not be such a revelation. On the other hand, Topsy (to find old tweets) or Blackbird Pie (to embed HTML representations of them) might be amazingly useful if you've never heard about them. Plus, the directory of companies in the broader media ecosystem – offering services and products from curation to visualization – is pretty handy to have all in one place.
The site is divided into four sections: #Report, #Engage, #Publish and #Extra.
#Report focuses on searching, from the recently updated basic search to more advance features like saving searches or filtering by words, people, or places.
From #Engage we get a glossary of twitter-specific (and not so specific) terms. Just in case you wanted to look up, say, the technical function of OH: "used as a way to quote funny things people overhear." There are also examples of real-live tweets from real-live journalists who use Twitter "to improve the way they connect with audiences, share news and, through it all, build deeper and broader communities."
#Publish offers tools that serve as a "catalyst for conversation and engagement." These include web intents (pop-ups that let you perform simple functions like reply, retweet or follow without leaving the page), follow and tweet buttons (to customize and add to your blog or website) and display guidelines (for proper attribution and official logos).
#Extra is exactly what it sounds like: a mix and match of support services (in case you're having log in or mobile issues), a smattering of Twitter blogs (translated into six languages) and a list of companies that sit at the intersection of Twitter and the media.
From a company that grew into its present day form on the practices and input of its users, a set of guidelines from the Twitter Powers That Be may seem slightly upside down. However, they're open to suggestions from the same community that gave them the retweet: "This is a living document, so there will be more to come here in #TfN."
We'll wait to see what turns up.
See Also: - How Early Twitter Decisions Led to Anthony Weiner’s Dickish Demise
