As a sports journalist, I have a strong desire to know the latest breaking news before anyone else. I have notifications turned on for just about every sporting news/social media app downloaded on my phone. If I’m not watching the TV when a story breaks, I usually find out within seconds once it pops up on my screen.
BREAKING: The @49ers have pledged $1 million to a pair of Bay Area groups to address various social inequities. Story to come.
— Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) September 8, 2016
Twitter oftentimes is the best form of social media when trying to receive the latest news. On Twitter, millions of people are tweeting information every second. Contrarily, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are more focused around personal lifestyle rather than information distribution. Twitter also is set up to make for easy and quick communication. If someone tweets out breaking news, it is simple to “retweet” or re-share that information, or even just provide a simple response.
I would assume a sign the Bills are working on a Gilmore extension. https://t.co/RXgJijQEu5
— Stephen Bond (@whec_sbond) September 9, 2016
In the tweet above, Stephen Bond is responding to breaking news about the Bills restructuring a contract in efforts to create more cap room. His response builds off that tweet and provides further insight for reasons why they might be doing that. This is a prime example of the news collaboration that occurs on Twitter. The constant communication between Twitter users stimulates both engaging conversations and oftentimes generates even more news.
I totally agree with the idea of knowing first. I never realized how important that was until I got into the industry and everyone knew everything. It seemed like some people were already knee deep in research and analysis before I even knew what happened.