Are News Organizations Using Twitter Effectively? (Infographic)
Analysis revealed that while news organizations include share buttons on their sites, they are missing a branding opportunity when it comes to the default Tweet template.
The media loves Twitter. In fact, journalists, media professionals and publications make up the largest group of verified Twitter accounts. While individual journalists and media insiders have relatively modest followings, some publications have millions of followers.
Still, some companies adapt better than others and an infographic from NeoMam Studios examined whether or not news organizations are using Twitter effectively.
NeoMam analysed how 44 U.S. and U.K. newspapers were using Twitter by asking two questions:
- Does the publisher have Twitter buttons on site the website?
- Does the publisher use the author or publication name in default Tweets?
While all of the newspapers had Twitter on-site share buttons, less than half included the author or publication name in its Tweet template. However, when examining the most popular publishers on the web, NeoMam discovered that 73 percent included the @author or @publisher in default Tweets.
According to NeoMam Studios CEO Danny Ashton, the main difference between how newspapers use Twitter and how the more popular digital publishers like Buzzfeed use it, is likely a matter of infrastructure. He told SocialTimes:
Many of the older publications have sites that have developed over time and thus have frameworks that I assume are tricky to change. In contrast to them, we’ve got new influential publications of the likes of Buzzfeed, which are defined as “full stack startups” and have been built from the ground up with the main goal of engaging users on all platforms.
Ashton also noted that including the @publisher in the Tweet template adds the cache and credibility of the publication to the content. However, he said this was a secondary perk to the real power of including the @author and @publisher.
The main direct benefit is an immediate increase in the number of direct follows to both @author and @publicaton. Including the author’s username helps increase the number of followers to the publication, whilst pushing the personal brand awareness of writers and journalists.
Check out the infographic below for more details.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock and Twitter.
