Tweeting on Twitter

I've never actually heard of Twitter until using the web-site for class, but I can see why it is used in the journalism world. These days everyone wants their news right when it happens, which is why many people use Twitter to tell stories and give updates on events using the 1-2-3 filing method. I read through other class member's Twitter posts and found 3 that I think are worth mentioning.

I thought Nicole's shorts summaries on the Go Green campaign at Towson showed a good example of 1-2-3 filing. Her first tweet tells the reader what the article was about in just 6 words. Her second tweet then defines single-stream recycling because some people may not have heard of it. It also states why this is easier for students and a better way to recycle in general.

The article about Univ. System of Maryland's budget cuts was summarized well in tweets by Matthew. His first tweet lets the reader know that these budget cuts will have an effect on Towson, which then captures their attention. His second post describes the main points of the article. If I hadn't already read the article, these posts would make me click the link to find out more.

Lastly, Mike's tweets on Towson football's loss against Richmond represent good newswriting as well. He uses abbreviations to make the posts short while still being informative. The first tweet includes who, what, when, and how, only leaving out the where. In the second post he notes that Towson played Richmond, so "where" could either be at Towson or at Richhmond. He gives more information by stating the quarterback's full name, telling the readers it was Towson's second loss of the season, and that Richmond is in 4th place. All of this information was told in less than 200 characters, but still describes the story in just enough detail.