Tweeting for PR Students

I must admit, for a long time I couldn't see the point of Twitter. 140 character limits and a lack of any kind of formatting sounded more of a hindrance than an innovation. But alas, I caved into the pressures of the masses and got myself a Twitter account.

A quick leaf through my personal Twitter account will reveal a fairly large omission of substance; however Tweeting is perhaps more constructive when not entirely confined to the mediocrity of everyday life.

Twitter was named when creator Jack Dorsey found the word in the dictionary. It was defined as follows:

Twitter: A short burst of inconsequential information.

This humble name was chosen for a concept where its biggest strength is its simplicity. 140 characters prevents Tweeters from overly complex Tweets, letting them only put down a brief description of what they mean to communicate at that exact moment. It is for this reason many new media commentators have described it a stream of consciousness.

So, a service like Twitter is nimble, immediate and accessible. These three qualities are precious commodities in Public Relations to communicate to an organisation's message to its audience, and as such, Twitter is very much a part of the new media revolution, and is of great value to PR practitioners.

Word spreads fast on Twitter. Since reputation is a big part of PR — preserving the positive, curbing the negative, being Twitter savvy is a major bonus. The recent outrage at Daily Mail journalist Jan Moir for her article on Stephen Gately which she used as an excuse to criticise same sex relationships and marriages exemplifies this. Complaints quickly tweeted, almost virally, prompting a record amount of complaints to the press complaints commission.

It is for the aforementioned reasons that Twitter is of great value is of great value to those involved in PR, but it is its accessibility that is something that sets it apart from many other media forms. Anyone can tweet. From an almost inconceivable amount of sources — text message, mobile clients, etc. For the PR student, it is an immediate soap box on which to stand and shout.

P.s. For those of you that have more that 140 characters, you may just fancy Woofer instead. ;)