Top entertainment stars are becoming the social darlings of real-time tweeting, but local news personalities are now trying to catch up.
Los Angeles’s KCAL9 reporter Melanie Woodrow livetweeted her November 5 report on human trafficking, tweeting out questions and comments to her followers, and in the process, gaining 11 times her daily average of new Twitter followers, according to Twitter data.
Think #humantrafficking happens elsewhere? Tune into #KCAL in less than 10 minutes. It’s happening here in #SouthernCalifornia
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— Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) November 6, 2013
Did you know #California is one of the nation’s top 4 destinations for human trafficking? According to a 2012 State of California report
— Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) November 6, 2013
What did you guys think of “Amber” and “Kim’s” stories? Both were sold into the game and duped by people they thought were their friends
— Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) November 6, 2013
Woodrow’s tweets generated response from followers who watched her report.
@MelanieWoodrow yes the figueroa track ive heard stories of girls being robbed down there
— Miguel Manzano (@askflow) November 6, 2013
Melanie told Twitter’s Media blog that creating a conversation around an important topic was her reason for livetweeting.
“I wanted to encourage people to watch the story and talk about human trafficking. I ran the idea by my news director and managers, and they were game to let me give it a try.”
And the key to making her social storytelling successful?
“The real key was having KCAL9 (@CBSLA) retweet me. During the day, I promoted that I would be live-tweeting.”
Mainstream network and cable news reporters often promote their stories through Twitter, posting photos from the field and promoting the time their reports will air. Will they follow Woodrow’s lead and livetweet as their report airs? Stay tuned.