Sree Sreenivasan takes three to six minutes on every tweet he writes.
I’ve seen the Columbia Journalism professor’s process. It’s excruciating. The drafting, editing, tagging, re-editing… it’s quite a process.
But Sree has a good reason for his careful behavior, aside from saying that social media is “the only thing I do every day that can get me fired.”
“Twitter is the only thing I do every day that can get me into the Library of Congress.”
I send an average of 22 tweets per day, about five times more than Sree sends. He’s been on Twitter more than a year longer than me, according to twbirthday, a fun little tool Sree introduced me to. It’s obvious that one of us is much more careful about what we tweet than the other.
Also, perhaps not so ironically, one of us is a nationally-known expert on social media. Hint: It’s not me.
Sree describes Twitter as “important and dangerous,” and he developed best practices as a result of this view. He calls his approach the “ABCs” of social media. It stands for “Always Be Collecting.”
You always should have your phone with you and collect things you potentially want to share, including articles and photos, Sree said. But just because you have those items doesn’t mean you should share them all. Sree advises social media users to “share carefully.”
Other advice Sree offered journalists attending his presentation included:
Name check
When you write a tweet, consider who you can mention. Don’t just mention people when you need or want something from them. Name check people when possible to begin cultivating a relationship.
Provide tweet context
“Be semi-obnoxious” with your tags and handles as a way to help put your tweets in context. Try to put a link, hashtag and handle in each tweet you send. This will guarantee that at least one person (the person you tagged) will read your tweet.
Promote your content
It’s not enough anymore just to create content, you have to get the content in front of your audience, Sree said.
“Turning in the story is the start of your job. You have to be responsible for your own audience.”
Sree said journalists can use social media to:
- Find new ideas, trends and sources,
- Connect with readers and viewers in new, deeper ways,
- Bring eyeballs, traffic and attention to your work, and
- Help create, craft and enhance your brand.
Optimize your feed
Make sure your Twitter feed is optimized. Sree said this can be done by:
- reconsidering your Twitter handle. Avoid underscores because they don’t work on mobile devices.
- creating the shortest possible recognizable handle. Note: His is @sree.
- putting your best foot forward on your Twitter bio. Don’t be too cute.
- consider putting an email address in your Twitter bio. Journalists must be reachable.
Change your media diet
You should regularly add to your understanding of social media. Sree suggested doing this by reading sources such as Mashable, ReadWriteWeb and LifeHacker.
“Become a better student of your own social media.”
Create social good
People on Twitter like “do gooder stuff,” Sree said. Don’t believe him? Check out his case study on Four lessons from a single successful Tweet.
Know your key followers
Use Twiangulate to determine the most influential people who follow you. Create meaningful engagement with these followers as often as possible. Also think about what any content you’re about to tweet would mean to them.
We can agree that Sree knows a thing or two about Twitter. I certainly learned a lot from listening to him speak. I don’t know that I’ll take three to six minutes to draft a tweet, but I certainly will pay closer attention to the content I distribute.
janetcallaway Thank you, Janet!
TedRubin Thank you, Ted!
Great tips! RT MeghanMBiro: sree on Twitter: ‘Always Collect, Share Carefully’ http://t.co/EdewhTwy6By6B vprofkrgkrg
Great Twitter tips MT andrewcareaga Great tips RT MeghanMBiro sree on Twitter: Always Collect, Share Carefully http://t.co/f9OLKDtmWmmWm
PaulBiedermann Thanks, Paul! I think you can appreciate that I’ve become obsessed with redesigning my blog.
ThinDifference Thank you for sharing sree’s advice on Twitter for journalists. #sreetips
PegFitzpatrick Thanks, Martini Peg!
SocialMediaSean Thanks, Sean!
I really enjoyed this article. Picked up two new sites to book mark. a bit of thinking about the “library of congress” and especially love the type set on this blog. It is easy to read on older eyes.
ClayFranklin
ClayFranklin ClayFranklin I think @sree has some good ideas here. Also, thank you for your kind words about my site’s design. I actually redesigned this week. It’s nice to read that someone likes it!
profkrg ClayFranklin I love the site. I’ve been thinking of switching from Thesis to Genesis. BTW I asked Warren Whitlock to introduce us on Linkedin so we can connect there too. I clicked all your social connect links. 🙂
ClayFranklin Thanks for your kind words, Clay. I like Genesis a lot, but I hear good things about Thesis too. I don’t have any experience with it. What do you like/not like about it?
BruceSallan profkrg Good article Bruce TY have a great day.
DrLynneKenney Thanks for following me, Lynne. I look forward to sharing. I’m glad we connected through BruceSallan.
Good info! Thanks
patricksplace Thank you, sir!
JodiOkun Thanks, Jodi! I hope you are doing well. We haven’t chatted in awhile. 🙁
profkrg welcome – I know so sad – after the holidays – we must catch up !! #CollegeCash
RT LearningsLiving: Sree on Twitter: ‘Always Collect, Share Carefully’ http://t.co/gLXpdHpVJnVJn vprofkrgk#futuristext#cegsagsa
Amen. Everyone should read this. #RulesOfTwitter “profkrg: Sree on Twitter: ‘Always Collect, Share Carefully’ http://t.co/WlYV6TAFcOFcO”
welchwb35 Everyone? Wow! That’s high praise!
profkrg If they’re on Twitter, definitely. Experts are experts for a reason and the article does a great job at summarizing his thoughts.
welchwb35 Thank you. I learned a lot from sree’s presentation. I’m not sure about 3-6 mins on a tweet, but the logic is solid.
Good read. RT profkrg: Sree on Twitter: ‘Always Collect, Share Carefully’ http://t.co/dWLgPapQBZQBZ
LiciBev Thanks, Lici! I hope you are well.
profkrg Ah yes doing great. Have a big day tomorrow so I should be sleeping, lol.
LiciBev you always have a big day! It seems like you have tons going on.
profkrg I think that’s what happens when your kids grow up and are never home!
LiciBev perhaps. I wouldn’t know. We still at the running crazy with kiddos stage.
I really love this post. Best one I’ve read on the internet regarding this topic in a long time! #blogchat should check this out.
audaciouslady Thank you so much! I’m glad that you found it helpful.
islaisreading Thank you!