To start off with, this is not, by any means, an academic analysis. I've spent maybe a week or so watching these feeds: @kwch12 @KSNNews @KNSSRadio @KakeNews @KansasDotCom (the Wichita Eagle) @KMUW (local NPR affiliate) @KPTS (our local PBS affiliate) @NakedCityBlog (a local magazine). I also watched out for posts by journalists and staff from these organizations, as well: @KWCH_KimW (reporter, Kim Wilhelm), @Hnytka12 (weekend anchor and reporter, Denise Hnytka), @KWCH_JBarret (general manager at KWCH), @Stewart_matthew (storm chaser and producer at KNSS). But just because I wouldn't turn in this analysis to a professor of quantitative or qualitative research methods, doesn't mean I didn't discover a good deal.
First off, organizational feeds are not sufficient for local media. KWCH seems to try the hardest for the tweetosphere media segment, with varied results. Their domination of this "local media" feed, as I named it, cut both ways. Yes, they are at the top of my feed constantly. Unfortunately, the amount of tweets they produce per day is obscene! I will end up un-following the organization. What's really sad is that they also have the most news-team members with individual accounts that advertise where they work! It seems this could be avoided. On a more positive note, KWCH is the most focused on user engagement, asking citizen journalists to discuss stories with their tweets and also posting user content, in their "shot of the day" tweet. But sometimes in hopes of getting me to look at their content, I get directed to interesting but non-local news ("Pizza rivalry ends in arson..." is a good example, as it was from Lakeside, FL). But sadly, the amount of time I've spent on KWCH here isn't some critique; it's because they are doing the best job of tying social media to traditional media via twitter, despite all these issues.
In the next paragraph, I will give coverage to all of the other organization's feeds, proportionate to the amount of content that was there compared to KWCH-12... as you can guess, they aren't keeping up with channel 12. KSN focuses it's lens more locally, but has far less posts. Same goes for KAKE, with the exception that the one story that totally drew me in (Islamic Center damaged in fire, potential arson/hate crime) had a fair amount of quality issues. NPR is literally NPR on Twitter--anyone who actually listens to NPR, like me, knows what I mean: interesting stuff if I'm just driving and don't feel like playing sing-along with the Alpine. But unfortunately, even though NPR has one of the oldest organizational histories referencing the Internet of all the media organizations viewed, I;m not in my car. So stories like "How soda caps are killing birds," just don't engage me from my desk as a blog post like they do in the radio--blame distractions and my generation, if you will. Kansas.com could have used a few more posts in their feed--they are barely present on Twitter as an organization.
Essentially, anyone that wants to run a newspaper and can put together a decent headline and use hyperlinks to any significant effect can forgo a million dollar printing press or telecommunications satellite and reach the same quantity of people. The question here is, can those organizations that have already sunk money in that technology adapt? Some will, some won't--evolution has a sneaky way of working its way into economics and journalism like that. But one thing's for sure--when storm season hits, I'll be paying a lot more attention to the Twitter feeds operated by organizations with Doppler Radar then individuals with something witty to say! That social role is secure... for now.
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