Search
Close this search box.

100 articles – Julie Posetti on Twitter

A trilogy of articles about Twitter by Australian journalist and academic Julie Posetti led Evan Harding to overcome his inhibitions and start tweeting. And he's also nominated Posetti's pieces for inclusion in our '100 articles' project.

‘How Journalists Are Using Twitter in Australia’, Julie Posetti, MediaShift, 27 May 2009

‘How Journalists Balance Work, Personal Lives on Twitter’, Julie Posetti, MediaShift, 8 June 2009

‘Rules of Engagement for Journalists on Twitter’, Julie Posetti, MediaShift, 19 June 2009 

Until recently, I deliberately avoided Twitter for a variety of reasons. And while I wouldn’t suggest that I am in any way using it to its full potential, I have finally cracked. Part of the reason is this accidental trilogy – it was originally a two-part piece – from Australian journalist and academic Julie Posetti published in the US-based site MediaShift.

The Australian media are heavy users of the microblogging site, not just to stay updated, but also as a marketing and networking tool.  Twitter’s role as a newsbreaker is beyond question. However, Posetti makes an excellent point when linking tweeting to headline-writing; notwithstanding the imperative of search engine optimisation to make headlines more bland and predictable, could it be that creative headlines may yet have a future thanks to Twitter?

But Posetti doesn’t than simply extol the virtues of Twitter. She speaks to a number of journalists about the negatives as well as the positives – including the problems that can arise when blurring of private and professional lives. This clash is dealt with in greater detail in part two of her trilogy, while the final instalment looks at Twitter rules – those decreed by organisations, and some of Posetti’s own guidelines for journalists to use when tweeting. Rule 17: ‘Twitter is a time vampire’ is especially apt in my case..

To play amateur psychologist, you could say my Twittervoidance (no, that’s not yet a word but I hereby claim it) can probably be explained by a fear of the unknown. For fellow late adopters, it is definitely worth knowing what you are getting yourself in for.

Evan Harding is a Master of Global Communications student at La Trobe University. You can follow him on Twitter on http://twitter.com/eharding_cup and you’ll find Julie Posetti on http://twitter.com/julie_posetti.

For more ’100 articles’ project, including details of how to submit your own selection, can be found here.

Related Articles

Journalists wanted at Seven

The Seven Network is putting the call out for reporters, producers and researchers to join its news and current affairs team.

Editor's Picks