For this week, I looked at some news sites I regularly follow, and the presences they’ve established on the popular social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. Web sites like these are a new frontier for traditional news sources, offering both the opportunity to deliver content efficiently and connect with viewers, and the potential for alienating readers. Many news efforts fall somewhere in between, with simply a dry recitation of links to headlines. Let’s see how some media did.
1. The Los Angeles Times
Twitter:
The LA Times has a substantial Twitter presence. A few of the sites:
Flagship LATimes is largely confined to breaking news and links to the LA Times site. Well-updated and with apparent draw, but no interactivity, and little playfulness. Taking advantage of the new lists feature to compile alternative sources for breaking stories, e.g. http://twitter.com/LATimes/fort-hood-shootings\
Followers: 44,021
Following: 19, 548
Typical Tweet: “Breaking: At least 7 people were killed and 12 wounded in a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, today, MSNBC reports. More soon at www.latimes.com“
LATimestweets unites the various LA Times feeds and makes good use of the new Lists feature to link to its crowd of “tweeple,” but unfortunately falls squarely under the “links to headlines” category mentioned above – and although they occasional attempt to be racy, they’re posted far too infrequently – only 6 tweets over the course of the last week. No re-tweets or responses.
Followers: 945
Following: 191
Typical Tweet: “Lindsay Lohan’s latest topless photo is very disappointing http://bit.ly/4EjqiA“
My personal favorite, LATimescityDesk (note the improbable capitalization) has a slightly more human touch, thanks to metro assignment editor Nita Lelyveld, who occasionally throws in an RT to a good story or replies to a question. Still, mostly boilerplate stuff – it was fun when a slightly more eager co-worker took over during a vacation and consistently answered readers’ tweets.
Followers: 7,627
Following: 4,147
Typical Tweet: “RT @katerbee Literal Pasadena fork in the road. Awesomeness. http://bit.ly/39I2dk“
Facebook:
Updated with the same breaking stories as the Twitter, with added feature (read: bug) of seemingly unmoderated user comments. Info page reads like something sent out to shareholders – videos, photos, message boards and events pages are all in use, but seem to be token efforts. Telling comment: “Nice feature, LA Times. I hope you stay in business.”
Fans: 4,695
Typical Post:
“Los Angeles Times Please build it out of Legos! http://bit.ly/1ANovS
Like?: Eh.
2. CNN
Twitter:
CNN may have lost in its race against Ashton Kutcher for a million followers, but it’s the closest thing Twitter has to a standard news source, attracting (perhaps by default) a massive number of eyeballs. Nothing terribly innovative – a lot of breaking news – but they’re masters of the format, and not afraid to throw in plenty of RTs to quirkier contributers to spice things up a little. Interactive features include links to the “CNN Challenge” (“select your favorite anchor as your host”). Unusual in that they’ll sometimes tweet the news, wire-style, without waiting for links to the story.
Following: 209
Typical Tweet: “RT @KingsThings: CNN has been all over this Ft. Hood story. We’ll of course cover this tonight on LKL.”
Facebook:
Slick landing page image features snazzy logo, searchlights, serious-looking Anderson Cooper. Prominent privacy policy agreement suggests the page was enough of an effort to attract Legal’s attention. Mission statement is wisely replaced with trivia. Beyond the breaking news and invitations to comment, extras include weekly “fan notes,” discussion boards VERY open to the public (enlightening topics include “Holocaust VS Slavary,” “Why do all the canadian talk about american poltics,” and “CNN can go to hell!”) plus the occasional free t-shirt contest.
Fans: 643,144
Typical Post:
“The FTC approves ban on pre-recorded calls. Exceptions include political calls, “informational” calls and bank calls. http://bit.ly/jx703 Do you agree with the exceptions?”
Like?: Sure, as long as you’re cool with the virtual version of a massive, dumbed-down episode of Crossfire.
3. Yahoo! News
Twitter:
Different medium, same aggregating function – it’s easy to imagine the utterly no-nonsense YahooNews feed being run by some early form of sentient AI. If you really, really like AP, Reuters, and AFP, this is the source for you. Not that much more to say – which explains the anemic following.
Following: 366
Typical Tweet: “AP Sources: Dem Health bill to get AARP backing (AP) http://bit.ly/1YqnRD“
Facebook:
Unless you want to celebrate the good engineering folks behind the site, or join the 74 monthly users of a somewhat nebulous application, you’re out of luck.
Like?: Not much here to talk about.
4. Slate
Twitter:
Touted as “What Slate is reading and discussing,” Slate has the advantage of a nice, catchy name, but the emag early adopter doesn’t seem to be doing anything terribly groundbreaking here. The mix of breaking news with tongue-and-cheek features, gee whiz stories, links to outside sources and the occasional smattering of first person makes reading feel like eavesdropping by the newsroom water cooler. An insular one, though – few RTs, and almost no responses.
Followers: 22,060
Following: 56
Typical Tweet: “There *is* something Roland Emmerich won’t blow up http://bit.ly/3s2xrI“
Facebook:
Did you want the store? The musician? The Official Slate Bushisms Generator (6 monthly users)? The Hillary Clinton Deathwatch (1 monthly user – we see you, Sarah Palin)? Oh, the magazine? The group, run by a fan, is sixth down on the list. The official page, also way down in the search results, has a video player and at one point featured some good posts, so it’s too bad no one is going to find it. Last official update was two months ago.
Fans: 357
Typical Post:
“Dear Prudence: Creepy Twin Co-Workers
Like?: No one wants to visit an Internet ghost town.
5. LA Observed
Twitter:
Mostly linkbacks to its eponymous blog, LAObserved throws in a few RTs and links to other notable stories. More than a little dry inside-baseball, but if you’re reading it, you’re probably looking for that kind of thing. A few missteps (content of entire tweet: “Ann Powers”) suggest someone not entirely comfortable with the medium.
Followers: 3,030
Following: 475
Typical Tweet: “Bill Boyarsky column on a worthwhile investigative effort by ex-journalist now union gumshoe at SEIU. http://bit.ly/2G5JP2“
Facebook:
Nada. Shocking, right? There’s something to be said for the value of knowing your audience.
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