Twitter was an easy target for April Fool’s hijinks this morning as a couple of media writers floated fake stories that centered on local newsers’ obsession with the 140-character medium.
NewscastStudio posted a story about a Pennsylvania station’s announcement that it was ditching traditional newscasts for Twitter, while OnMilwaukee reported that WTMJ morning anchor Susan Kim tweeted the station’s entire 2-hour newscast this morning.
NewscastStudio wrote that the unnamed PA station would now distribute news via the @PennaNews Twitter handle, sending “a rapid-fire series of tweets during the times the station currently broadcasts news, such as 6 to 6:30 p.m.” Eliminating all on-air positions, the station would rely on “twanchors” instead.
OnMilwaukee observed that, while Kim’s Twitter followers enjoyed a rapid succession of tweets, TV “viewers may have been baffled by the sight of the veteran anchor sitting at the desk, head down, as her fingers moved furiously — and quite adeptly — across the keypad of her smartphone.”
After reading the OnMilwaukee post, Kim tweeted (for real): “I’m an excellent multi-tasker, LOL!”
OnMilwaukee’s spoof gets points for including a photo of Kim showing off her iPhone while sitting at the WTMJ anchor desk (above, right) while NewscastStudio’s hoax showed an impressive degree of commitment as the blog actually started a @PennaNews Twitter account.
The first and only tweet? “April fools!” of course.