BusinessWeek’s John Byrne just posted the names and Twitter handles of 32 of his colleagues. Nice of him, though I wonder what his colleagues think?
While we’re at it, PR peeps, here are some other lists of journalists who use Twitter:
- Business Week (courtesy of @johnabyrne)
- UK journalists (courtesy of PRBlogger.com)
- Newspapers that Twitter (courtesy of graphicdesignr)
- Journalists, US & elsewhere (Courtesy of My Creative Team)
- Media (courtesy of Social Brand Index)
- Journalists by name only (courtesy of TwitterGroups.com)
- Media on Twitter (wiki)
I know one day we’re going to look back at this post, and file it alongside the headline: “New Website Launches.” It’s just that Twitter’s use by reporters to crowdsource sources and file instant news dispatches, among other things, will be an afterthought before we know it.
Gladwellian connectors Brian Solis and Stowe Boyd hope to capitalize on the trend by channeling journalists’ informational needs via Twitter in a new venture they’re aptly calling MicroPR. It’s not unlike our friend Peter Shankman’s wildly successful HARO in which reporters crowd source PR people for expertise, albeit via email.
Many PR pros fear that journalists’ embrace of Twitter may make their long-held roles as expert resources obsolete. I would agree, but only for those practitioners who neglect to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. One last piece of advice: knowing journalists’ Twitter handles doesn’t give you the right to engage. Follow for a while, then determine whether you have anything of value to add.
Thanks for compiling this list Peter! You might also want to add Muckrack (http://www.muckrack.com) and http://www.presspass.me (which we are involved with and are making public in the beginning of 2012). Both of which are free directories of journalists and media professionals that are active on Twitter.