Tuesday, April 12, 2011

From random tweet to headline news

Twitterville is my favorite social media hood. Anything goes on Twitter - from the conversational to politics to breaking news to tumbling governments. And it's awake and lively 24/7. A happening kind of place.

I probably send out 5-10 tweets a day into the Twitterverse from @dancingdiva. Most of my tweets are a bit inane, sometimes funny, bits of "news" from a day in my life, or idle chit-chat with my tweeps. Nothing newsworthy, or so I thought.

Never once did I imagine that one of those little random tweets would translate into a story about reactions to rising gas prices featured "A1-above-the-fold" in the April 12 Star Tribune (and on the home page of its online edition). And that the story lede would jump off with, well, me:
Ann Freeman was filling up her Pontiac Vibe, watching the numbers on the pump spin so fast they blurred, when she noticed something she'd never seen before.

"I had never broken 40 bucks on gas before," she said, muttering to herself: "This is ridiculous."
She went home, got out her bicycle and took it in for a tuneup.

"My knees aren't what they used to be," Freeman, 54, said Monday afternoon. "But thanks to higher gas prices, I am motivated to drive less, ride more, save money and consume less..."
The rest of the story can be found here. (My favorite part is the guy who changed his match.com radius from 50 to 25 miles. What if his yet-to-be-found soul mate lives 35 miles away?!)  

Here's the Twitter-tale:

The original tweet (from my phone, in my car, at the gas station)

The re-tweet or RT

The "ask" by a reporter looking for angles for his story

The result: From tweet to headline news

So what's your guess? Will today's random tweet become tomorrow's news?




2 comments: