Forced to tweet

Sam,

I'm proud of you for being old school, though I am worried that you are sniffing your glue pot.

 

Quick story from my office. Writers have Twitter accounts and originally, the idea was to tweet in game prep updates. An older colleague doesn't have a smart phone and was told to text message the tweets. Went over on his text plan once, asked if he could expense the texts, was told no and flat out canceled his texting plan from his mobile phone bill. He tweets from the office from time to time when warranted, but no longer from events. Point being, if its important, provide the tools. Most places won't. I have a data plan on my phone for personal use and don't mind tweeting, but when you get right down to it, I'm using it for company benefit I should be getting some compensation.

In a broader sense, it's easy to say "Just Tweet" but the reality of our jobs is we're not sitting in front of a desktop computer in the newsroom Tweeting. It requires more tools that we're basically expected to provide on our own.

 

That's funny - and typical. Give us the info ... but on your dime.

Newspapers brag about going with technology ... as long as someone else provides it. I have a mobile phone, but no ability to text. No Twitter account ... blame John Temple and his initial ignorance for setting an ominous tone with that little media tool. Worry about your writing, editing, proofreading and layout abilities. Leave it to some self-proclaimed marketer or marketing machine to "brand."

Which brings the thread full-circle: Being forced to Tweet.

For those of you who like it, bully. Good for you. Congratulations.

And Ace ... not glue. Hot wax. Now I have some pages to paste up, OK? If you need a pica pole ...

 

I'm not a slut since I won't Tweet for free. You have to pay for the phone and the service.

 

I take it you don't make or take work calls on your phone then.

Way to keep it real!

 

Interestingly, had a conversation with my ME today in which he said he'd like to get everybody iPhones to solve the problem of our old computers not being able to tweet.

The genesis of that is that I pushed hard for a full year to get work to reimburse me for an iPhone I would buy, instead of providing me with a work cellphone.

I mentioned to him a couple months ago that work could just buy everyone iPhones, bluetooth keyboards and an HDMI dongle that sends your iPhone video out to a much bigger screen, and not have to buy more expensive desktop computers to do the same thing: writing and Internet research.

I revised my argument today to be next-generation (presumably) iPod Touch units which will invariably be capable of producing HD video. Work currently only provides cellphones for photographers and management and presumably wouldn't be happy doing the same for all reporters, so the Touch would save them a lot of money while still accomplishing the same thing.

Granted, I don't honestly think this will happen, but then there was a time I didn't think work would ever agree to my iPhone suggestion either.

 

Also, all of our reporters have set up their Twitter accounts and are using them. This may wind up being a positive experience - which I did not think would be the case at the outset.

 

I interact with readers the best way I know how. I go out and talk to them. I spent a half hour before a baseball game this afternoon walking around the stadium talking to people, shaking hands, slapping backs, asking questions, answering questions. You can't tweet that.

 

Actually, you could!

 

That's a great idea. I trust you wore a NASCAR-style suit with advertisers plastered all over it so your paper could monetize your public interactions.

 

A hundred unemployed FanHouse writers beg to differ.

You gotta sell it.

 

Here's some advice, online skills don't hurt. I got a $6,500 raise in one year because I leveraged my online skills to get one raise on merit six months in and the second raise after a year after I got another offer from a shop.

It wasn't just about Twitter and Facebook, but knowing how to get the website from just text and photos to a multimedia site. So if you use Twitter and Facebook, learn about mobile, HTML, Flash, podcasting and video production.

How do you think I made more than $30K in Dickinson? It wasn't rocket science. Your skills are valuable and making money at one shop is leverage to get more money from another paper.