For quite some time now, I have been following South Africa journalists on Twitter as they report directly from press conferences, court cases and political meetings. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and have revelled in the immediacy of it all. It is almost like being on the spot.
And it has been so efficient that I might have felt that I needn't bother to tune in the hourly news broadcasts or visit newspaper websites because I have actually gotten to hear the news before the radio stations and newspapers. But, of course, I still tune in to get the full story, the opinion and the commentary.
Makes sense. Or not.
I suppose I can understand why the BCC and SKY have started getting somewhat edgy. It's not that they don't believe in social media and the tremendous power of things such as like Twitter; it's just that they have a problem with the whole world hearing from their journalists and foreign correspondents before they do.
My initial reaction two years ago when I started following local and foreign journalists on Twitter was that news organisations such as the BBC, SKY, CNN and locally Primedia's Eyewitness News, was that they must be nuts to let their journos not only break stories in Twitter but constantly update to the point where it seemed to make tuning in to TV and radio station news bulletins pretty pointless.
I thought that if I were an advertiser or news bulletin sponsor, I would be pretty livid with journos drawing my audience away.
More recently, the South African Press Association (SAPA) has also started firing off news alerts on Twitter and, if I were a radio station or newspaper, I would probably be a bit irritated about SAPA giving away - free of charge - news content that I as a media owner am paying for.
Look at the numbers
Of course, it is going to be interesting to see over time whether radio and TV viewership and listenership figures will reflect a drop off. Frankly, I doubt it. In the long run, a drop off will be inevitable but not just because of Twitter but because of a tendency toward media on demand and a move away from consumers waiting to hear or watch the news at specific times. SKY has already moved this way by making news bulletins available on demand online.
My gut feel as a marketer is that allowing journalist to tweet on the spot will prove to be a great brand-building exercise and will not only draw in more listeners and viewers but will also create trust among followers of the journalists themselves. Which is precisely what every news organisation wants. But which, unfortunately so many resist because of their paranoia about journalists becoming celebrities and demanding more money.
It is interesting to see that there seem to be two distinct Twitter models being used by journalists right now.
Some simply tweet the news as it happens in as much detail as possible in 140 characters.
Others, such as e.tv's Sally Burdett (@SallyBurdettSA) and 702/Cape Talk's Chris Gibbons (@ChrisGibbonsSA), tend to tweet headlines of what is coming up in their shows. Something I find extremely effective and a great reminder for me to tune in.
I am frankly disappointed that the BBC and SKY have put a stop to their journalists tweeting as things happen. I believe they are being paranoid and have not thought about what they are doing.
Lest we forget
Most importantly, they seem to have forgotten where the breaking of news on social media actually started. It was ordinary people tweeting, Facebooking and videoing breaking news and, frankly, making the TV, radio and newspaper journos look a bit silly when they either pitched up on the scene after everything was over or waiting until they could report through traditional news feeds.
At one stage, the established media looked as though it was being outdone by citizen journalism.
Until journos started tweeting and suddenly traditional news became immediate again.
I would suggest that South African news organisations think very carefully before muzzling their tweeting journos. They are doing a great brand building job and giving me, the customer, what I want and not what makes their bosses feel uncomfortable.
Social media has become news media. Instead of muzzling it, news organisations need to start looking at developing revenue models to make the process profitable. And when it comes to drawing revenue from social media, there are any number of ways of skinning the cat. Sure, they might be somewhat elusive, but where there's a will, there's a way.
