You can’t get scooped because competition gets tipped to a story when you tweet about it. Your tweets already scooped the competition.
A Digital First engagement editor who’s been teaching colleagues how to use Twitter got these questions from a veteran reporter:
Thank you for helping me understand Twitter and how to use it. What I don’t get is: If we tweet where we are and what we’re doing, how do we keep the competition from making a few phone calls on a story we sat through a meeting to sift out and develop? Or they’re not at the fire, but I’m tweeting and now they know.
And if I give results on Twitter, why would they buy a paper to see the results of the game?
I thought Twitter was to draw readers to our paper. So this is a struggle.
This is classic print-centric thinking. The newspaper has an early print deadline so “they’ve been scooped a lot,” the engagement editor told me. In this kind of thinking, scoops are based on who has the print story first.
That’s not how Digital First journalists and newsrooms think. If we had the story first, we had the scoop. And you have the story first if you have it on Twitter and/or on your website.
I’m going to respond here both to the reporter’s questions and to editors who need to lead reporters like this to working and thinking Digital First. This will continue both my #twutorial and advice for editors series.
I’ll take the reporter’s concerns in order:
Why tell the competition about the meeting I’m covering?
If we tweet where we are and what we’re doing, how do we keep the competition from making a few phone calls on a story we sat through a meeting to sift out and develop?
To the reporter: You don’t. You don’t care about the competition being behind you. That’s where you want them. When the competition learns about a meeting (or any news) from your tweets, that means you’re there and the competition isn’t. That’s a scoop.
Before you go into that meeting, post an article on your site with a couple paragraphs telling about the agenda of the meeting and the news that’s likely to be made there. Then tell readers they can follow the meeting live right there on your site. Embed a ScribbleLive event underneath, timed to start about 15 minutes before the meeting starts, and feed your tweets into the event. Then your tweets provide live coverage that leave the competition in the dust.
You clearly understand that beat reporting goes beyond meeting coverage. The greatest value from attending meetings often isn’t the coverage of that event. It’s the contacts you make and the tips you get for stories that, as you noted, you’ll need to “sift out and develop.”
Tweet what’s immediately newsworthy from the meeting, what you would put into a story for tomorrow’s paper. But you don’t worry about space; anyone who follows a meeting online has a greater level of interest than that “typical” reader we write newspaper stories for. If the meeting has a lively debate on an important issue, you can tweet a half-dozen quotes, or a dozen, rather than just the couple of quotes you might use in the story. And when the council takes that key vote, you’ll tweet the result immediately, scooping everyone.
But you’re reporting, not transcribing. If you hear a brief discussion about something interesting that needs more reporting, and isn’t going to result in a newsworthy vote tonight, you don’t have to mention it at all. Or you can mention it in a crowdsourcing question, tapping the knowledge of your readers to get a jump on the story.
If it’s an evening meeting and you’re not going to be able to make that early deadline, the print story is going to be 30-some hours old by the time people read it. You absolutely need to cover the meeting live, while it’s newsiest.
If the meeting happens right on your print deadline, it’s OK to stop (or dial back) the livetweeting at some point and start writing your print story. Tell your Twitter/website audience that you need to work on the print story so you won’t be tweeting as much. But be sure to fire off a quick tweet for an important vote (or play, if you’re covering a sporting event).
I’ve heard again and again from reporters as they gain experience livetweeting that it helps them write their print stories faster. Once you get fluent at the Digital First workflow, you can serve digital and print platforms effectively.
To editors: As reporters plan to cover meetings and other events in the community, ask them about their plans to livetweet and make sure that they set up ScribbleLive events so that you’re reporting the news not just to your Twitter audience, but to visitors to your website. And be sure that you note on your newsroom Twitter and Facebook pages that the reporter is covering this meeting, so people who are interested can follow the reporter on Twitter and/or follow the meeting on your website.
Any event worth sending a reporter to is something you should livetweet unless you have a good reason not to (the judge won’t allow phones in the courtroom, for instance, or you’re covering a funeral and the you’re respecting the family’s wishes).
Why tell the competition about a fire?
The reporter’s next concern:
Or they’re not at the fire, but I’m tweeting and now they know.
To the reporter: You know what that’s called? Kicking the competition’s ass! Because it’s not just the competition that knows about the fire, but everyone who follows you (or your newsroom’s Twitter account, because they will retweet you) or visits your newsroom’s website.
A fire is most newsworthy while it’s happening, when people in your community can hear the sirens and see the smoke. If you’re the reporter who’s on the scene, tweeting facts and photos and videos, that’s the best coverage. Your print story, which people won’t read until after the embers are cool, is completely secondary. Even if it’s a front-page story. In breaking news, people want to know what’s happening now, not what happened yesterday.
Use a hashtag such as #mytownfire (substituting the town’s actual name), so that people who see your tweets can click the hashtag and see your running account of the fire (or storm or meeting or whatever you’re covering). And if the hashtag catches on with the community, you can feed it into the liveblog and collect community tweets from eyewitnesses, too.
One point to emphasize here: Your standard of accuracy does not change when covering breaking news live. You still report only verified facts (or acknowledge what you don’t know and ask the community if they have the answers).
Digital First newsrooms should not feel any conflict between getting the story first and getting the facts right. If you don’t have the facts right, you didn’t get the story first.
However, when livetweeting breaking news, your standard of completeness changes entirely. You don’t have to nail down the whole story to start tweeting the facts you have nailed down.
When you get to the scene of that fire, you can immediately tweet (from seeing the vehicles) that five firetrucks are on the scene, two from fire departments in neighboring cities and three from your community.
You can quickly verify (perhaps from a witness or fire chief, maybe from a sign on the building, maybe because you recognize the building) what the burning building is. So you can quickly tweet a photo of the fire, identifying the building in the tweet. You can Tout and tweet a quick video of the fire, reporting those basic facts.
Other facts such as cause of the fire, whether anyone was injured or killed or rescued, will wait until you can verify them.
To the editor: You won’t always know every time you hear a siren whether it’s a breaking story worth liveblogging on the website. But as soon as the reporter gets to the scene and reports back that it’s a real fire (or a serious accident, police standoff, rescue attempt, etc.), set up a liveblog and feed the tweets into the site. Remind the reporter to use a hashtag.
If we tweet the news, why would people buy a paper?
The reporter’s next concern:
And if I give results on Twitter, why would they buy a paper to see the results of the game?
To the reporter: People who use Twitter don’t buy a newspaper to see the results of the game, if they buy one at all. The only people who buy a newspaper to see the results of a game (high school, college or pro) are people who don’t watch TV, listen to the radio or use social media or news websites. The newspaper may give those people deeper coverage of sports events than they get from social media or other electronic media, but the results are old news by the time your paper reaches them, even if the game ends in time for your early deadlines.
Also, our company has adopted an all-access subscription practice. This means that the subscription people pay for the newspaper also covers our digital platforms such as the website and mobile and tablet apps. We need to give our subscribers value for the digital portion of their subscriptions. So you absolutely must livetweet sporting events and feed those tweets into the site using ScribbleLive, so they will learn the results (and watch the game unfold) live on your site and apps.
I don’t dismiss the importance of the print edition, but its decline started long before Twitter. Daily newspaper circulation peaked (at 63 million) in 1973. Twitter started 33 years later, when newspapers were selling 52 million copies a day. During a time when our nation’s population grew by 40 percent, newspaper circulation dropped by 17 percent. So our need to build new audience and a new business model predates Twitter.
Twitter and other digital tools give us an opportunity to grow our business, rather than accepting decline.
We need to publish good stories and photos in the newspaper, but our top priority at Digital First Media is spelled out in our name. We’re focused on building a successful digital media business for the future.
To the editor: Since we’re charging for digital access, you need to impress on your staff that live coverage is an essential part of the value we provide.
Don’t we use Twitter to draw readers to the paper?
The reporter’s next concern:
I thought Twitter was to draw readers to our paper. So this is a struggle.
To the reporter: No, Twitter is not to draw readers to the paper. Many, perhaps most, of the people on Twitter are unlikely to read the print edition. Twitter is a way to expand our audience, reaching people who won’t read the print edition. Twitter is a way to feed live event coverage and breaking news coverage into our websites, providing greater value for our paying and free visitors (and greater incentive for free visitors to pay). Twitter is a way to draw readers to our website and apps.
To the editor: It’s not uncommon to learn that staff members have mistaken notions such as thinking that Twitter can draw readers to the newspaper. Be sure that you’re listening to your staff, so you can educate these staffers and help them learn not only how to use Twitter but why to use it.
You can tell staff members that they have to use Twitter and they will. But the more they understand how and why to use Twitter, the better they will use it.
Earlier #twutorial posts
These posts might relate most to the points raised by this reporter:
Advice and examples on how and what journalists should tweet
Denver Post staffers’ #theatershooting coverage demonstrates Twitter breaking news techniques
Don’t be selfish on Twitter; tweeting useful information is good business
10 ways Twitter is valuable for journalists
Should a journalist livetweet a funeral? If so, how?
These are other #twutorial posts:
Step one for using Twitter as a reporter: Master advanced search
Use lists, TweetDeck, HootSuite, saved searches, alerts to organize Twitter’s chaos
Hashtags help journalists find relevant tweets and reach more people
9 ways to find helpful people and organizations to follow on Twitter
To build Twitter followers: Join the conversation, tweet often, be yourself
Updated Twitter time management tips
What’s the best way to view Twitter’s users? 16 percent or 30 million
Twitter data shows journos’ ‘burstiness’ boosts followers
#Twutorial guest post from Deanna Utroske: Tips for twinterviewing
#Twutorial guest post by Menachem Wecker: How to use Twitter to find the best sources
#Twutorial guest post by Jaclyn Schiff: How using Storify can help you find great sources
Getting started on Twitter: #twutorial advice for a friend
Use Twitter for conversation about an event, not just promotion
How to verify information from tweets: check it out
With Twitter archives now available, how would you use old tweets?
Twitter search gets even better with twXplorer
If you hit Twitter’s (stupid) follower ceiling, use lists to follow people
Updated and expanded Twitter tips for journalists
Earler #advice4editors posts
Earn respect from elders by doing good work and showing respect
Develop new leaders in your newsroom
Make your important points in writing
Recognize and reward excellence
Control your calendar and think big
Ask staff about their aspirations
Ask staff to propose ways to measure performance
Adapt leadership style to your staff and your challenges
Work and hire to reflect your community’s diversity
Lead your staff in learning data skills
Handle firings with honesty and compassion
Tips for interviewing job candidates
Check a job candidate’s digital profile
Hiring is an opportunity to upgrade your newsroom
Time is precious; manage it carefully
The digital audience values quality photos
Lead your newsroom in pursuing mobile opportunities
Blog about your newsroom’s transformation
You’re a role model; be a good one, like Dave Witke
Do what you say you’ll do — by being organized
Lead and stimulate discussions of ethics
Stand for accuracy and accountability
Deliver criticism with a challenge
How do your daily budgets reflect multi-platform planning needs?
What new beats would help newsrooms cover local news better?
Why editors should be active on Twitter
The Buttry version of social media best practices for editors
How the crowd can save your career
Reblogged this on HYSTERIA ENTERTAINMENT and commented:
You don’t tip competitors on Twitter; you beat them
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GREAT post Steve, thanks!
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I’m a senior journalism major and finding your blog is like finding gold! Thank you.
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Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you find it helpful.
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Reblogged this on Things I grab, motley collection .
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[…] Buttry has a great response to a reporter worried about being scooped by the competition if they post on Twitter. He argues […]
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[…] Buttry, who is digital transformation editor for Digital First Media, published an important blog post on Saturday about using Twitter to break news. That led to a conversation, the highlights of which […]
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[…] « You don’t tip competitors on Twitter; you beat them […]
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Great post and really helpful. Excellent information.
I’m a millenial so I can really echo that a lot of people on Twitter have no intention of reading your paper. We want the digital content and if you don’t have it we’ll get it from someone else.
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Great Post. Do you think business Hashtagging their advertisements will bring more traffic to their twitter?
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If you use a relevant hashtag that is used by people who are interested in your product or service, it might attract some followers. I doubt that a branded hashtag is likely to build much following. However, my experience and expertise is more in the area of news uses of Twitter than advertising.
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Nice, I read in an article that 2014 hastagging a business is going to start to happen more & more. Thanks for your advice! Worth a follow!
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It is good to know a different perspective about Twitter. I have never viewed or thought about Twitter like the reporter. Thanks for this information.
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Reblogged this on ltsblogstaff.
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Reblogged this on Real Time Solutions For Medical Providers and commented:
This is not only good for reporters but for businesses. Don’t let the competition get the edge on you. Instead take the edge and run with it so that you can stay on top and put your competitors in the dirt.
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Well said! I particularly like your emphasis on verifying the facts before they’re tweeted and how you’ve scooped the competition if you’re tweeting before they are.
It’s also an interesting point that the decline in circulation started back in the 1970s, so there is definitely a need for a new business model.
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed. I enjoy reading your blog very much and am glad to see you get the FP award.
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Thanks, Eagle!
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[…] Steve Buttry adds, from his post ‘You don’t tip competitors on Twitter; you beat them’: […]
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[…] 19 post about granting confidentiality to sources as when I posted last Saturday about whether to avoid tweets that might tip competitors about breaking news or events you’re […]
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[…] You don’t tip competitors on Twitter; you beat them. Lots of journalists use Twitter for sharing links — especially links to their own published stories. Well, that’s just one of the many ways a really savvy reporter can use Twitter. Steve Buttry, a top editor for Digital First Media, talks about letting go of fear — fear that you are tipping your competition when you are first to tweet. Get over it! You’re there, they’re not, and the way to let everyone know that is to tweet. […]
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[…] UM POST com conselhos muito interessantes de Steve Buttry sobre o uso do Twitter no jornalismo. […]
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[…] issues such as why newsrooms should livetweet routine events and breaking news and why you shouldn’t worry about tipping the competition on Twitter. We might discuss why Daniel Victor cautions journalists against using hashtags and why I think you […]
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[…] here to read […]
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[…] You don’t tip competitors on Twitter, you beat them […]
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[…] in 2013 had dipped below 2012 levels, running 20,000 to 25,000 views most months. A post about Twitter and competition on Saturday, Jan. 4, started a surge in traffic like I hadn’t seen in over a year. Where […]
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[…] You don’t tip competitors on Twitter; you beat them […]
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[…] You don’t tip competitors on Twitter; you beat them (2014) […]
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Reblogged this on bubblefireblogs.
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[…] only 2014 post that drew more traffic than the Baquet guest post was also about Twitter, addressing whether you tip the competition on Twitter (my answer: No, you beat them). I also got more than 3,000 views for curating Clay Shirky’s “tweet rant” about […]
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