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More Twitter tips from UK media people, this time from Sarah Booker, digital and social media editor for the Worthing Herald series and Chichester Observer series.

Do you recall your first tweet?
Not off the top of my head, but looking back I discovered I wrote “working” – my traditional status in the real world. How did you use Twitter to begin with? For a long time I read before tweeting. I signed up in 2006 after seeing Twitter on DJ and musician Iain Baker’s blog.

After struggling to find my way, I eventually discovered a variety of interesting people and organisations on Twitter. It’s such a great source of information. I really got into it in early 2008.

When I started the Worthing Herald’s Twitter account, I posted selected stories from the web and searched for people in the area, reading what they had to say. I started the paper’s Twitterfeed just before I went on a fortnight’s holiday, because I could not find anyone in the office willing to take on what they thought was a “weird web” folly.

When I’m in the office I’ll make a few live comments to show there is life at the end of the feed.

How has your use of Twitter changed?
These days I’m running multiple accounts, personal, personal but professional, and four newspapers. When I started out with my first account three years ago, using my long-standing internet username, I had no idea what I was doing. Now I find myself responding to people directly as part of a conversation, as well as retweeting and reading so much more.

Having two personal accounts was an important move. Sarah_Booker is my working journalist self and the tweets reflect that. I leave my hobbies and other interests to my non-professional account.

I used to be skeptical about using third-party tools, but now I’m a Twitterfall convert, trying out Seesmic Desktop and a Twitterfox, Twhirl and Tweetdeck user. I’m also more willing to ask questions and get advice. It’s quite comforting to find people you respect also don’t have a magic way of doing something.

What do you want from Twitter?
Personally, I want inspiration and communication. For the newspapers I want interaction and shared information about what’s going on in the area.

Have you attended a tweetup?
I’ve been to a Worthing tweetup, and spent one evening at the Butlins Bognor tweetup weekend. I’ve also been to a Brighton Tuttle and Hove Tuttle. Apparently there’s two Brighton Tuttles so I’ll have to find the other one.

Have you evangelised Twitter?
If so, any success? My enthusiasm for Twitter knows no bounds and I’ve had success with colleagues in other centres in the division. However, the initial response from reporters was extremely negative. They couldn’t see the point of posting news information to a site they knew nothing about. This might change now I’ve picked up stories from it, we’re getting website referrals and stories have developed through reading the followed and followers. A couple of reporters are beginning to see the point; one took on the Littlehampton Gazette account. Getting them to set up their own Twitter accounts might prove difficult.

Do you have any self-imposed policies regarding your use of Twitter?
Always look carefully at someone’s profile and tweets before deciding whether to follow them back. Be helpful and friendly.

How do you see your use of Twitter developing this year?
It’s changing all the time. I’m sure I’ll use it at work much more than I am at the moment.

[+] Sarah Booker can be found on Twitter at @sarah_booker and @nimmykins, at the Worthing Herald’s Twitter feed @Worthing_Herald, the Shoreham Herald’s Twitter feed @Shoreham_Herald and the Chichester Observer Twitter feed @ChiObserver

Tags: journalism, social media, twitter

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 9:21 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.