It’s been a little less than three months since Mark Luckie left The Washington Post to become manager of journalism and news at Twitter, and now he’s got some advice for journalists using the microblogging network.
Working in conjunction with Twitter’s Platforms and Analytics team, Luckie combed through thousands of tweets sent by journalists and news brands towards the end of 2011 to find out what behaviors generated spikes in retweets, replies and follower growth. Most of his findings were predictable, but a few — like the fact that sharing others’ tweets in full using the automatic Retweet button rather than quoting their tweets generated triple the engagement — were surprising.
We’ve summarized Luckie’s full set of recommendations, below:
- Tweet your beat. “Journalists are the experts in topics they cover, and should bring that same knowledge and energy to Twitter,” says Luckie. That isn’t to say journalists shouldn’t tweet about things that don’t fall within their beat — but data shows that journalists see the highest levels of engagement and growth in followers after sending tweets related to their core coverage areas.
- Don’t only post your own stories. Journalists and news organizations who post content from sources outside their companies see higher engagement levels overall.
- Live-tweet events. Some journalists on Twitter joked that they expected to lose half their followers while live-tweeting Apple’s iPhone 5 announcement last week. It turns out that live-tweeting boosts the rate of follower growth by 50%.
- Use hashtags. #Journalists would probably #lose some #followers by #tweeting in #this #style, but using hashtags for live events or ongoing stories can help increase engagement by 100% for journalists, and 50% for brands. Luckie pointed to CBS Chicago’s use of the #drewpeterson hashtag throughout coverage of the Kathleen Savio murder trial. “They really ended up being the big authority for the trial by establishing the hashtag,” he said. “Other news organizations started using it as well as people at and interested in the trial.”
- Use @mentions. “If you include @mentions rather than just URLs, you’re absolutely going to grow your followers and traffic at a higher rate than what you would just by tweeting links,” says Luckie. In other words, it’s better to use “@MittRomney” than “Mitt Romney.”
- Use the re-tweet button. Tweets that are re-tweeted in full using the automatic Retweet button are retweeted three times as often compared to tweets that are quoted.
Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, sodafish
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Media Summit 2011The Mashable Media Summit on Nov. 4 at the Times Center in New York City attracted professionals in digital, tech, advertising, sales, marketing, mobile and publishing from all over the world.
View As Slideshow »Media Summit 2011The Mashable Media Summit on Nov. 4 at the Times Center in New York City attracted professionals in digital, tech, advertising, sales, marketing, mobile and publishing from all over the world.
Media Summit 2011We had a packed house in attendance for this year’s Media Summit.
The Future of Social MediaPete Cashmore, founder and CEO of Mashable, speaks on the future of social media, its current landscape and what trends to expect for 2012.
Media Summit 2011This year’s Media Summit was located at the Times Center in New York City.
Social Media Grows Up: The Evolving Role of Social Media in News OrganizationsMashable‘s community manager Meghan Peters chats with Katie Rogers, social media manager at The Washington Post; Anthony De Rosa, social media editor at Reuters; and Drake Martinet, social media editor at AllThingsD.
Teaching – and Learning From – The Old Grey LadyBrian Stelter, a media reporter and blogger at The New York Times speaks at the Media Summit.
The Filter Bubble: How to Fix Content CurationEli Pariser, author and chairman of the board at MoveOn.org, discusses how human editors and algorithms can work together to get users clicking on content that matters.
What Facebook’s New Features Mean For JournalismAdam Ostrow, executive editor and senior vice president of content, Mashable speaks with Vadim Lavrusik, journalist program manager of Facebook, about how the social network’s new features can help journalists.
The Evolution of Sports IllustratedSports Illustrated Group editor, Terry McDonell, talks about the magazine’s transition from print to digital with Mashable’s Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff.
From Tactile to MobileJosh Koppel, co-founder and chief creative officer of ScrollMotion, speaks on the reinvention of content experience and engagement.
TV Makes You SmarterChristy Tanner, TV Guide’s general manager and executive vice president, explains how technology is changing entertainment for better and for worse.
TV Guide AudienceA member of the audience asks TVGuide general manager and EVP Christy Tanner about technology’s changes to the entertainment industry.
Like A VirginTor Myhren, Grey president and chief creative officer, talked about the ultimate user experience, and how different it is today from when he was a teen. Here he is at age 14.
Like A VirginTor Myhren, Grey president and chief creative officer, talked about the ultimate user experience, and how different it is today from when he was a teen.
The Problem of PredictionTony Haile, CEO of Chartbeat, discusses how real time data changes what you should be doing.
Mashable’s Big AnnouncementAt Mashable Media Summit, we announced the Mashable Publisher Platform, a new editorially curated syndication experience that brings content from select publishers to our site.
The Importance of Being AwesomeFaris Yakob, chief innovation officer of MDC Partners’ kbs+p and founding partner of Spies & Assassins, covers from art and copy to arduinos and code, and how important it is to be awesome.
AT&T Brings 4G to NYCLarry Solomon, AT&T’s senior vice president of corporate communications, announced that 4G LTE will be coming to New York City.
One on OneBloomberg TV anchor Emily Chang talks tech with Foursquare’s General Manager Evan Cohen.
The New Model of Content and CommerceLauren Indvik, marketing and media associate editor at Mashable, is joined by a panel including Alexis Maybank, founder and chief marketing officer of Gilt Groupe ; Maureen Mullen, research and advisory lead of L2; and David Granger, editor in chief of Esquire.
The New Model of Content and CommerceLauren Indvik, marketing and media associate editor at Mashable, is joined by a panel including Alexis Maybank, Founder and chief marketing officer of Gilt Groupe ; Maureen Mullen, research and advisory lead of L2; and David Granger, editor in chief of Esquire.
The Future of Social TVMashable’s entertainment editor Christina Warren talks with a panel including Alex Iskold, GetGlue founder and CEO; Jesse Redniss, vice president of digital, USA Networks; and Tom Thai, vice president of marketing and business development at Bluefin Labs, about the future of social media in its relationship with television.
The Future of Social TVMashable’s entertainment editor Christina Warren talks with a panel including Alex Iskold, GetGlue founder and CEO; Jesse Redniss, vice president of digital, USA Networks; and Tom Thai, vice president of marketing and business development at Bluefin Labs, about the future of social media in its relationship with television.
The Future of Social TVMashable’s entertainment editor Christina Warren talks with a panel including Alex Iskold, GetGlue founder and CEO; Jesse Redniss, vice president of digital, USA Networks; and Tom Thai, vice president of marketing and business development at Bluefin Labs, about the future of social media in its relationship with television.
Breaking Down Content BarriersMichael Lazerow, founder and CEO of Buddy Media talks about the rules of content that need to be changed for social media.
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