What: Producer and Reporter
Where: Santa Maria, CA
Brittany is a reporter and producer for KCOY and KKFX, which share studios in Santa Maria. She is 24 years old and has been working there for a year and a half. She began using Twitter in college, and, for her, it was odd, “almost stalker-like.” Once she figured it out, she realized its potential for a medium of information.
1. How do you use Twitter?
· Uses Twitter for all purposes (personal, business, interest…)
· “I like to tweet and retweet what I think is interesting. Most of the time it’s for work and if it’s a story I cover for work, oftentimes my work’s Twitter retweets me.”
2. What are the benefits of Twitter?
· Quick way to gather information
· “Some of our local PIOs use it…” Sometimes they tweet pictures of news her team cannot make it to quickly enough. She sometimes uses those in her newscasts.
· Helps get out breaking news (ex. LAX Shooting)
3. Downsides to Twitter?
· 140 Character Limit
· Can’t trust everything you read online
4. Upsides to Twitter?
· “Sometimes limiting your sentences to 140 characters is tough for a complicated story, but I think that helps me as a writer.”
· Convenient to search for what you need, quick and useful way to follow news, connects you to potential sources
5. What do you see as the future of Twitter?
· She’s had this conversation with other journalists. Some say it’s a fad that will die out. She thinks it has a great future. “I think they will eventually grow and instead of just sharing photos and tweets, more video content will be up there. Eventually, I predict that all news will be available online…TV, broadcast, print…and it will be interesting to see how Twitter will evolve with that.”
6. Why do you follow who you follow?
· Friends, journalists she’d like to connect to, news outlets
7. Advice to the us:
· “Take advantage of it!”
· Utilize lists - PIOs in your coverage areas
· Use search to find out what’s going on in breaking news, etc.
· “Share the breaking news photos/videos/tweets in your newscasts to show that you are connected.”
· “Take advantage of topics that are trending and incorporate it in your news content.”
· “Remember, it is still your job to be a journalist and confirm the facts that are there.”
Fun Facts: Followed by Barack Obama’s Twitter
