What to Twitter?

[NEWSCHANNEL 5]

Hey. I have a question maybe you guys can help me with. What do I Twitter?

It may seem obvious, but let me explain. I see what most stations are doing. They're just posting their latest headlines. That seems silly to me. That's what an RSS feed is for.

Why add to the workload, when that's automatic?

I can't post things like "Heading to scene of breaking news," because it could tip off the competition and also it might turn out to be nothing.

Any story-related items have to be confirmed and approved and by that time the script's already being re-written for the web (and that's back to duplicating what's already on the RSS).

If one of the anchors is out to have his or her wisdom tooth removed, that might be something to note. But that's a little personal and maybe they don't want me to share.

Posting things like "at morning meeting" and "Posting Overtime blog" seems boring and repetitious. And when things get busy, I don't have time to post anything.

So I'm stuck. What should I Twitter?

[Shaine Mata]

I've been thinking about this. This is the difficult part of twittering as an organization rather than as a person. It doesn't give you freedom to be a personality. This was the same question with blogging back in the day. If you recall, Robert Scoble did not blog as Microsoft, he was one guy at Microsoft. The twitter equivalent would be Zappos. Each employee twitters their experience, not as a company.

I don't see a problem with posting links to stories. I know that there are RSS feeds, but that is mostly useful on a computer. What about people with mobile phones? I get a lot of content while I'm on the go. Sending links through Twitter seems like a good substitute for RSS, which doesn't work very well on mobile phones. I think you will continue to see audiences move towards mobile content anyway. You can start staking your claim.

A good compromise would be to have @krgv post links to content and a separate personal account as an employee of KRGV like @statesman has with their twitterers. Twitter works best when everybody is aboard.

For example, it's nice to have a personal update from @krgv_tim for tonight. I can watch TV for the long-range forecast.

You can also have @krgv_letty twitter her speaking engagements or public appearances.

You can twitter results of Masterminds, write teasers like "County Judge says it's a no-go. Find out more at 6 pm," or answer viewer questions.

As for breaking news, you don't have to give all the details. It can be vague like Chase in Western Hidalgo County ends in collision. This gives you time to produce something and gives people enough heads up to watch TV for details. Twitter could be very good for priming the viewership pump. Of course, only post it once you have edited footage.

Try a personal account as a KRGV employee and see how that works. That's my 2 cents.