My last week was spent with the Sky News website, and after I managed to get my head around the content management system, it proved to be a particularly fruitful week – I managed to get two bylines on the site.

The first came from an idea that popped into my head when I read about civil servants and politicians being advised on how to use Twitter: if Gordon Brown was on Twitter, what would he tweet? So I pitched the idea to my editor and was told to come up with some funny material. I went away and racked my brains and came up with a few mock tweets and to my delight they ran with it and it was put up on the website.

My other byline was a story on a survey from the travel firm ABTA which found that over half of Britons prefer to send and receive postcards, despite the abundance of new technology. I spoke to Brian Lund, a postcard collector and the editor of Picture Postcard Monthly magazine who also very kindly sent me some funny, saucy and historical postcards for a picture gallery to accompany the article.

In addition I had three other pieces published. The first was regarding David Beckham’s latest run in with a fan in LA. The second was concerning Thomas Cook offering German tourists the chance to book their sunbeds early. The third was a story on the advice from Bresstfeeding Network charity that women should continue breastfeeding their children if they have swine flu.

My last day emphasised just how exciting and unpredictable being a journalist is. The day started like any other, I was set to work on a few stories when I got called downstairs.

I had just seen the sad news that Sir Bobby Robson had died aged 76. My editor Jon asked me what my footballing knowledge was like. “Pretty good,” I replied. And with that I was set to work moderating and updating the Sky News CoverItLive blog on Robson’s death.

I didn’t have previous experience with using the software and was to an extent thrown in at the deep end, but I enjoyed getting to grips with it and being involved in a big piece of news, which was evident from that amount of comments that were sent in.

In between updating that I also wrote an article bringing together a collection of the tributes to the man from the likes of Alan Shearer, Tony Blair and Jose Mourinho.

And with that it was time to leave. I will certainly miss Sky, but it had to come to an end sometime. One thing I certainly won’t miss is the 6am starts!

Civil servants and ministers have been advised on how to use Twitter.

In light of this I wondered what Gordon Brown would tweet if he was on Twitter… ]]> http://alanmcguinness.com/if-gordon-brown-tweeted/267/feed/ 0 http://alanmcguinness.com/twitter-useful-tool-or-trivial-distraction/152/ http://alanmcguinness.com/twitter-useful-tool-or-trivial-distraction/152/#comments Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:04:20 +0000 Alan http://alanmcguinness.com/?p=152 This is a blog that I posted on my university course website in April, but haven’t published it here. Given the current buzz around Twitter I thought I’d make some tweaks and post it here. Enjoy.

To tweet or not to tweet?

That is the question facing many of today’s journalists. With increasing numbers of people keeping their followers up to date with what they are doing, hacks are starting to examine the opportunities this latest social networking craze offers.

It is a question that has also sparked a healthy debate on the Centre for Journalism (the website of my university course) a few weeks ago.

For the uninitiated the premise behind Twitter is devilishly simple: tell the world what you’re doing, in less than 140 characters.

Some argue it is simply a chance for people to post trivial updates about the mundane occurrences in their daily life. For example, Joe Bloggs could tweet that he is currently (stop the press) eating a piece of toast.

Others argue that it has its uses for journalists. I fall into this camp.

Of course it can be used for trivial nonsense that no one outside of your circle of friends will be interested in, but there are many ways journalists can utilise it to their benefit.

You could use it to quickly check the latest headlines. Media organisations are already establishing a presence on the platform. Sky News, BBC News and the Guardian all have Twitter accounts which are updated with the latest articles from their websites, with a link provided to the original piece.

A whole myriad of organisations, companies and personalities (most notably Stephen Fry) have Twitter accounts. The afore mentioned media organisations are paying attention to the opportunities Twitter offers and clearly wouldn’t be dabbling in it if they didn’t think it was of some use to them.

Although it might not be feasible for us to have one, the Twitter wall idea featured in an article from Ian’s (one of my lecturers) Delicious feed is another way the media can use Twitter to their benefit.

Since I started my course in September of last year, there have been countless examples of Twitter being put to good use.

The first picture of the plane that crashed into the Hudson river was posted on Twitter.

Sky News’ used Twitter to keep users of the channel’s website updated with the scene outside Jade Goody’s home after she died, and also during her funeral.

The channel also utilised the service to cover the G20 Protests. The length of Tweets proved perfect for quick updates on the latest developments in the protests, such as the windows of an Royal Bank of Scotland being smashed.

I first found out about the shooting of PC Steven Caroll in Northern Ireland via Twitter. I just happened to check the Twitter app on my iPhone before I went to sleep.

The death of Michael Jackson led to an absolute explosion of the amount of tweets on Twitter. The ‘trending topics’ (the most popular subjects of the tweets posted on the site) were dominated by the King of Pop.

I can also use Twitter to alert people when I post something on my blog, which is a handy way of directing more traffic to the website.

So to sum up, I think Twitter can be used by us journalists to help us do our jobs.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.