Twitter for journalists 101

Most young journalists would roll their eyes at attending a social media workshop--after all, how hard is it to Tweet?

But at the recent CAJ conference in Toronto, UBC j-school prof Alfred Hermida proved that yes, there is a 'right' and 'wrong' way to Tweet--and chances are, you're doing it wrong.

Gone are the days of "we (journalists) tell them" what to think, Hermida said. "We tell them" in social media doesn't work. Journalism's challenge now is to figure out how to join the conversation in a "tell each other" world.

Hermida's three principles for journalists:

1) Be human. Journalists aren't robots. This doesn't mean you have to only provide opinion, but be conversational, interesting, and most importantly, relate to your audience.

2) Be honest. When communication with readers, one of them is inevitably to know more aobut the subject than you do. Adding corrections makes you a better journalist. Don't be afraid to learn from your readers.

3) Be involved. You can't just be a visitor in social media, coming and going as you please. You have to be actively involved and part of the conversation. Yes, this means responding to comments.

Other good Twitter tips:

-Build a large following/audience. Follow people based on your 'beat.'

-Think about the audience when you Tweet questions/requests

-Questions work best when they're based on ideas that can generate useful discussion

Some interesting Twitter resources:

TwitterLocal: looks for Tweets around your location

Twitter Times: a personalized "newspaper" based on your Twitter account