News on the Tweet

Why are respected news brands good news for Twitter?

Twitter by itself would produce tweets and posts that aren't reliable, Twitter allows anyone to make an account thus allowing them to lie and tweet things that may not be true or reliable. Official Twitter accounts are respected with a good reputation and big names/brands are known to be careful about what they do or say to the public meaning that they are good for Twitter as their information is reliable and trustworthy for Twitter followers.

Why in turn is Twitter good for respected news brands?

Twitter allows users from all over to world to access and follow Twitter accounts which include respected brands such as designers, celebrities, organisations and businesses. Twitter acts as a advertisement platform where people can follow, tweet and re-post the information thus allow other followers and accounts to access this information. Accessing it online is easier and better for users opposed to paying - An example may be how a person may not buy The Telegraph but can view articles on their Twitter page out of interest on how they report a story to compare. Furthermore twitter allows a easier and quicker access to articles and newspaper home pages.

The report suggests that old and new media “are not, in fact, in direct competition, but often work extremely well together to enhance both the media eco-system and the consumer experience”. What evidence do they provide to support this idea? Do you agree with it?

Users on Twitter think that the social networking allows them to keep connected and updated to their favourite brands and celebrities, clothing brands for example or favourite artists. Twitter and news brands provide the public with news, gossip, information for readers, working side by side creates a stronger ground to provide users with that information. Along with the ability to connect more people together about the topic making the experience amplified, this also creates opinions, offspring of posts and comments. A verified brand informing users of news or gossip will allow users to register and believe it instantly as it is respected with a reputation, etc and will encourage people to spread the news to fellow friends, co-workers etc. the verified sign creates a trust, allowing people to spread and react to it as they please since they will assume instantly it is true without doubt.

On page 24/25 of the report, the focus turns to gossip or banter. What example tweets from journalists are used to illustrate this? 

A tweet about how a university has spent £20,000 building a pub to investigate why people get drunk - it's ironic and makes a joke about it. The other examples look like their about celebrities and social interest and sports then some about politics and university, the pub tweet is a great example of mockery.

Do you think the increasing amount of gossip or banter is harming the reputation of news and journalists?

Yes as it makes professional journalists appear more of a blogger than from a professional news brand. It makes it more readable and interesting for the younger audiences and holds their interest more as they appeal to that sort of news opposed to the older audiences. furthermore gossip and banter is more unusual from news and journalists and therefore get more attention as its out of the ordinary and would get more attention, re-tweets and comments about it.

What does the report say about trust in Twitter and journalists (look at pages 34-39)?

information such as news is very important for the public and for users and needs to be from a trustworthy source to ensure it is 100% true and not tampered or made up, this is why verified branded names or businesses help builds trust and ensures the public that is a reputable account tweeting real information for them to read. Having more character and personality from a journalist makes it more interesting than news company and therefore having a news employee journalist on twitter can mean they can interact and get more users interested. 

Finally, do you think new and digital media developments such as Twitter have had a positive or negative impact on traditional newspapers?

Twitter a new and digital media development has both positive and negative impacts on the tradition newspapers, allowing users to engage with journalists from the news businesses and interact more with the people following the account. The prestige view of how a twitter user and appear to be at a high level and not interact with followers can be broken using a twitter account by a journalist dissolving that type of impression. This more relaxed and more interesting way to getting more readers and followers for a newspaper has made newspapers result in price wars in order to get more readers picking up their paper at stores.