Arguing against those who are resistant to Twitter, Alan Rusbridger recently outlined 15 reasons why the service matters to journalists.
All 15 are on point, including:
- It’s where things happen first.
- It is great reporting tool.
- It is an agent of change.
But one he misses (or understates) is it’s where your readers are. This was not true two or three years ago when Twitter was a niche product used by a select few early adopters. But Twitter now has 175 million users who send 95 million messages each day. This mass market makes Twitter a great marketing tool. Rusbridger writes:
“I only have 18,500 followers. But if I get re-tweeted by one of our columnists, Charlie Brooker, I instantly reach a further 200,000. If Guardian Technology pick it up it goes to an audience of 1.6m. If Stephen Fry notices it, it’s global.”
