Electric Fishwrap has moved

This write up is mostly for coworkers, who could not attend the Twitter and social networking class sponsored by Western Washington SPJ in November.

First up, Twitter. Here are some terms:

• Twitter: The platform wherein the writer uses 140 characters to answer a simple question: What are you doing?
• Tweet: An individual post to Twitter
• Tweeps, Tweeple: People who follow you on Twitter

Last month I went to a workshop about Twitter, hosted by the Seattle PI’s Mónica Guzmán. She runs the PI’s Big Blog and uses Twitter to connect with sources and find stories. (Read her writeup of the event.) She said writing the blog lends itself to using social media.

She encouraged people who attended to dive in and start using Twitter. I’ll admit it’s a little awkward at first. I started a few months ago by following other journalists in the area that I knew, and then some across the country whose blogs I read. Then as I started tweeting other people started following me. Then I found a local teacher in one of the school districts I cover.

Guzmán said using Twitter is about being open and finding your boundaries. Share things you find interesting, or what you are doing. You have to talk with your tweeps or they will ignore you.

Here are some other links for using Twitter as a reporting tool:

• TwitScoop: What’s hot on Twitter right now. Watching the tag clouds expand and contract live is somewhat addicting
• Twitter Local: Find people within a certain geographic area who use Twitter.

Guzmán says you should follow people who follow you, but I am not sure I agree with that 100 percent. Yes, it’s polite. But the time it takes to sift through all of that information could be intimidating. I’m following less than 100 people, and Guzmán has more than 1,000.
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