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Are You Annoyed By Retweets?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Boom_70, May 8, 2012.

  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Don't our retweets just go out to the people who already follow us?
     
  2. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    But you might lose some also who don't like your retweets. Besides retweets only go to those who follow you anyway.
     
  3. Good point. I typically use the old-school retweet, which means all of my followers can see it. I think.
     
  4. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    Those Nats writers need to bring something unique to the table. I realize on a daily basis there are a handful of local sports writers tweeting the same shit. At one point last year, my sports list had 21 straight tweets about the same thing.

    I have a greater appreciation for the writers who do unique stuff. One guy that stands out to me is Dan Dickerson, the PBP guy for the Tigers. After the game, when the writers quit tweeting about Miguel Cabrera, Dickerson is cranking out stats people missed.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  5. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    No way. At some point, if you have a Twitter feed that's understood as part of your job as a journalist, you have to be a gatekeeper of information.

    Your retweeting of some coach saying something banal makes you banal. Yeah, it might sucker one or two people, but not very many.

    There are three important things you need with your Twitter feed: 1) inform; 2) develop your own voice; 3) engage the hell out of people.
     
  6. First off, I completely agree with all three of your necessities.

    Not getting into it too much, but I typically only retweet if I have something to add or if I'm retweeting another journalist while I'm on the run and don't have time to verify independently (which is your No. 1 point).

    Going back to the poster directly above you, I think one thing you can do is to tweet things you can't see on TV. Give color. Even if the game isn't on TV, give extra information that you won't get from following a Gamecast or the radio, etc. Be the eyes and ears of the reader.

    I'll be the first to admit I don't do that as well as I'd like to. But nine times out of 10, the best feedback I get is by tweeting that stuff. Look through binoculars after a player limps off the field and tell your followers what the trainers look at. Bring up interesting stats throughout the game that indicate a systemic problem or the current strength of a team.

    I follow close to 750 people on Twitter, and one that has stood out to me even though I don't particularly care to follow the beat he covers is Ethan Skolnick (Miami Heat for the Palm Beach Post). He almost never tweets scores of the games he's at and covering. Instead, he tweets the stuff you can't get anywhere else. The stuff he sees and hears that won't show up anywhere else. I try to model my Twitter feed off that type of stuff, though I admittedly fail more often than not.

    Like someone said, when everyone else on your beat is tweeting the inane press conference quotes, you almost feel compelled to. It's a double-edged sword.
     
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