Updated Twitter-News Media Survey Results

Here is the updated results from my survey of the news media’s use of Twitter. It has 29 respondents, as opposed to 21 during the initial period.

survey title:
How the Media Uses Twitter Edit Title

Total Started Survey: 29
Total Completed Survey: 29 (100%)
How do you use Twitter for your news organization?

1. What is your role at your organization?

Editor-in-chief 10.7% 3
Managing editor 10.7% 3
Publisher 0.0% 0
Online editor 28.6% 8
Web producer 14.3% 4
Section editor 3.6% 1
Reporter 17.9% 5
Other (specify below) 14.3% 4
Other (please specify) view comment 5
Comments:
1. owner
2. Entrepreneur
3. Public Relations
4. managing editor/multimedia
5. Director of Coverage

answered question 28
skipped question 1

2. How long have you used Twitter at your organization?

Less than a month 24.1% 7
One to two months 31.0% 9
Less than six months 31.0% 9
Less than a year 10.3% 3
Over a year 0.0% 0
Since it debuted 3.5% 1
Other (please specify) 0

answered question 29
skipped question 0

3. What is its main use?

Promotion and traffic generation 25.0% 7
News delivery 35.7% 10
Dialogue with readers 25.0% 7
Lead generation 14.3% 4
Other (please specify) 0

answered question 28
skipped question 1

4. How many of others’ updates do you follow?

None 10.3% 3
Fewer than 5 20.7% 6
Fewer than 10 10.3% 3
Fewer than 25 13.8% 4
Fewer than 50 10.3% 3
Over 50 34.5% 10

answered question 29
skipped question 0

5. What additional Twitter applications do you use?

None 34.5% 10
Twitterfeed 24.1% 7
Twitteriffic 13.8% 4
Twitterlicious 0.0% 0
Twittergram 0.0% 0
Netvibes app 3.5% 1
Facebook app 17.2% 5
Other (specify below) 6.9% 2
Other (please specify) view comment 3
Comments:
1. twitbin,twitstat
2. twittbin
3. Plus Facebook app and widget in Moveable Type blog

answered question 29
skipped question 0

6. Who proposed the use of Twitter at your organization?

Editor-in-chief or managing editor 22.7% 5
Online editor 45.5% 10
Sub- or section-editor 4.6% 1
Publisher 0.0% 0
Reporter 9.1% 2
Non-editorial employee 18.2% 4
Other (please specify) view comment 8
Comments:
1. I did.
2. Online producer
3. me!
4. friend
5. De Pers
6. Public Relations
7. (Me)
8. self

answered question 22
skipped question 7

7. Who is responsible for Twitter use at your organization?

Online editor 47.6% 10
Web producer 28.6% 6
Other editor 4.8% 1
Reporter 19.1% 4
Other (please specify) view comment 6
Comments:
1. individual choice
2. Me.
3. me!
4. Me
5. Public Relations
6. online folks

answered question 21
skipped question 8

8. How useful has Twitter been to achieving the goal for which you began using it?

Very 28.0% 7
Somewhat 52.0% 13
Not very 20.0% 5
Not at all 0.0% 0
Other (please specify) view comment 2
Comments:
1. Unsure; not enough time has lapsed.
2. Not really long enough to say yet… early days!

answered question 25
skipped question 4

9. How many Twitter accounts does your organization have?

1 50.0% 14
2 17.9% 5
3 10.7% 3
4 3.6% 1
5 3.6% 1
More than 5 14.3% 4

answered question 28
skipped question 1

10. How likely do you think it is that media organizations will make Twitter, and other microblogging applications like it, a part of their day-to-day business in the future?

Very 35.7% 10
Somewhat 46.4% 13
Not very 17.9% 5
Extremely unlikely 0.0% 0
Other (please specify) view comment 1
Comments:
1. But in a more refined form, I think, once it is more widely understood and developed. (NB. Most Guardian Twitter accounts are set up for personal use)

answered question 28
skipped question 1

Twitter Experiments: Indie Games Con, Twitter4Kareem

In addition to I’m With the Press, my aggregation of all the mainstream general news Twitter accounts into one (and accompanying survey of the news media’s use of the tool), I’m doing a couple more “Twitter experiments.”

First, next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I and some coworkers are going to cover the Indie Games Con via Twitter exclusively. To get up dates, follow the GarageGames account. If you’re attending the IGC and would like to take part, visit GarageBlog for more details.

Also, a month from today, the Committee to Protect Bloggers, along with FreeKareem.org, are sponsoring Twitter4Kareem, a way of memorializing the one-year anniversary of the unjust imprisonment of an Egyptian blogger. If you’d like to take part in this, read the CPB post to find out how.

Survey Results: News Media Use of Twitter

I’ve conducted a survey of the use by the news media of Twitter, the microblogging service. These results are what I’ve gotten after a week of having the survey open. I’m going to keep it open in the hopes that those in charge of using Twitter for their newspapers or broadcast companies will jump on. If that happens, I’ll issue an amended report.

This survey was based on my attempt to find and subscribe to the updates for every Twitter account I could find that was maintained by a general news organization. I came up with 72, which you can see at I’m With the Press. A number of these accounts are moribund.

I had 21 respondents to 10 questions. I am listing out the questions and the top responses below. Full data will be available to download.

1. What is your role at your organization?
Online editor: 30%

2. How long have you used Twitter at your organization?
Less than six months: 38.1%

3. What is its main use?
News delivery: 50%

4. How many of others’ updates do you follow?
Over 50: 33.3%

5. What additional Twitter applications do you use?
None: 42.9%

6. Who proposed the use of Twitter at your organization?
Online editor: 50%

7. Who is responsible for Twitter use at your organization?
Online editor: 50%

8. How useful has Twitter been to achieving the goal for which you began using it?
Somewhat: 47.1%

9. How many Twitter accounts does your organization have?
One: 55%

10. How likely do you think it is that media organizations will make Twitter, and other microblogging applications like it, a part of their day-to-day business in the future?
Somewhat: 55%

Well, let’s hear it for the Online Editors out there. The only really odd response was the claim that over 50 Twitter updates were followed, since that is not borne out by casual observation. It might be useful in the future to aim a more complete survey at those only editors. It might be illustrative to find out how size of the organization effected the use of Twitter, for instance.

Full results for download: News Media Use of Twitter full survey results.

Update: Jemima Kiss of the UK paper the Guardian, did her own (rather more thoughtful) analysis of the survey results. I think she’s right, that this is obviously only a start. I hope someone at a J-school designs and conducts a really complete survey of the news media’s use of Twitter.

Posting about the Twitter News Media Survey

Both Jonathan at Cyberjournalist and Jemima at the Guardian have posted on the survey of Twitter use by the news media.

A Survey on the Use of Twitter by the News Media

If you are a decision-maker at a news organization that uses the microblogging service Twitter, please take this survey I created for I’m With The Press.

Click Here to take News Media Use of Twitter survey

Please note this is a survey only for representatives of general news organizations. If you run an online-only news site, are a representative of a specialty news organization (sports, tech, business, etc.) or are not a member of a news organization at all, please do not fill out the survey. 

Traditional Media on Twitter

The established media, and by this I mean daily newspapers and non-specialty broadcast news organizations, are starting to pick up on Twitter. But most of the big ones-New York Times, NPR, CNN, BBC-are clearly using it solely as a promotional tool. The way you can tell that is by the fact that they do not follow a single update. Some bigger groups, like France24, actively cross-pollinate with their readers, and most of the smaller ones, like the Nashua Telegraph, do.

In lieu of putting together a list of these Twitter accounts I have, instead, created a separate Twitter account. I’m with the press.

If I’ve missed a general news print or broadcast organization that is using Twitter, please let me know. I am notably deficient in alphabets other than the Latin, so if you know of a credible mainstream news source in Russia, India, China, etc., that uses Twitter, please let me know about that as well. I only added one Twitter account per organization for those, like the BBC who have dozens.

The Twitter Monopolists

Most people who use Twitter are probably like most people who blog in general. They use their account to communicate with friends and vent and throw out a link to something of interest now and again, or to keep in touch with professional associates, or to advertise. But there are some people, I’ve noticed, who “monopolize” it.

What do I mean by “monopolizing” Twitter? How could you do that? Well, all I mean is that if you follow a Monopolist’s updates, that is all you wind up seeing on the With Others tab of your account.

There are two types of Monopolists.

The first are the Feed Monopolists, users who utilize a service like Twitterfeed, to run feeds from elsewhere through their Twitter account. They become Monopolists when their feeds contain an enormous amount of posts. Organizations do this more than individuals.(I fear that, between this blog, the CPB, my work blog and Blogswana, I have come close at times. I hope I’ve not crossed over the line. If I have, for Heaven’s sake, tell me please.

The second type of Twitter Monopolist is the user who constantly, constantly, constantly updates their account, The minutiae of their work days, the arcana of their personal lives (often utterly bereft of context): nothing is too small to be Twittered. And their updates positively overflow that of the sum total of the rest of the updates that you follow.

If you follow the updates of either of these types of Monopolists, you lose the updates of your other friends and professional associates and the information you use Twitter to follow.

My point is only that I think everyone would be better served if they are more judicious with their updates. Otherwise, they are liable to lose the very people with whom they wish to communicate.