Twitter Your Way Into Our Newsroom

Posted by: John A. Byrne on October 09

Last week I began a new experiment: I signed up for Twitter and began to tweet on news decisions, editorial judgments, and the various goings on in our newsroom. It’s yet another effort to more fully engage readers and deliver on our goal to become the business and financial website with the deepest and most meaningful reader engagement in the world.

What am I tweeting about?

Every day, I tell readers what stories are getting the most attention. Who I’m meeting with (it was Jim Collins the other day). When I’m recording our cover podcast and the choice of music for it (B.B. King’s “Why I Sing the Blues” this week). The opinions of our editors (our news editor Dan Beucke thinks the Dow Jones Industrial Average will bottom out at 8,000, while investing editor Will Andrews believes it will be 8,200. The outcome of our afternoon news meetings at which we decide the next day’s lead story. And there’s more: I’m going to interview Jack and Suzy Welch before 50 dinner guests next week so I’m asking readers to help me decide which questions I should ask.

I’m delighted to report that within just a few days, more than 100 people have signed up to see my tweets, from the CEO of Zappos to the CMO of Best Buy — great examples of how companies are using Twitter to connect with consumers. Thanks to both and everyone who is following me.

If you want a peek inside the Business Week newsroom, you just might want to join Twitter and follow my tweets. But you can do more than just peek inside this place by following me. It’s also where you can suggest ideas, stories, features, and inform the reporting of ongoing stories. I’m a great listener. See you there.

And if you’re not on to Twitter and want to know more about the micro-blogging service, BusinessWeek writers Arik Hesseldahl and Steve Baker have an introductory video on Twitter as well as another video tutorial on using Twitter via cell phone or Blackberry.

Arik, by the way, is something of a Twitter guru who has been interviewed on the topic by BlogTalkRadio and other media outlets. Steve and Heather Green have been on the forefront of journalists using Twitter and other social media, as bloggers have noted. Kudos to my colleagues.

(Update: For more on how I use Twitter, check out this video; and click here to see an updated list of BusinessWeek’s journalists you can meet on Twitter).