THE INFAMOUS NEWS

REPORTER: TWITTER
How did Twitter become a news platform
 THE BIRTH OF TWITTER

• created in 2006 (twttr)

• originally designed as an SMS-sharing
app to help organizing public protests
• developed into an app for
microblogging
• 140 characters limit

Biz Stone, Jack Dorsey, Ev Wilson, Noah Glass, Fred Wilson

1. CONSTRUCTION
How Twitter came to be about news
The phenomenon of
„vague tweeting”
THE CODE BEHIND TWITTER PRIVILEGES SOCIAL COMMUNICATION THAT IS OFTEN
EVENT-BASED AND EVENT-DRIVEN, MUCH LIKE THE CONTENT THAT TRADITIONALLY
MAKES THE NEWS. (HERMIDA, 2013. DIGITAL JOURNALISM. #JOURNALISM:
RECONFIGURING JOURNALISM RESEARCH ABOUT TWITTER, ONE TWEET AT A TIME. P.4, DOI:
10.1080/21670811.2013.808456)

• Peripherial awareness of other

users
• Constant refreshing
• „Trending” page
 TWITTER ALGORITHM: THE BIG THREE

Relevance to trending topics

Engagement patterns User preferences

2. CREDIBILITY
How Twitter differs from traditional sources
 Article

Tweet citing an article

COMMENTING INSTEAD OF
RELATING
 Objectivity (or lack thereof)
 The problem of immediacy
 Push for individual branding (ideal for politicians)
3. CONTROVERSIES
Why do we hate Twitter so much?
 THE HOSTILE SPACE OF TWITTER

• The (apparent) anonimity

• Biased algorithms
• Biased users
• Political discourse (among others)
FREEDOM OF SPEECH VIOLATION?
COMMUNITY NOTES

• Launched in January 26th 2021

• Community-driven moderation
program
• Anyone can make a contribution
THE FALL OF TWITTER
ELON MUSK AS CEO
MASS RESIGNATIONS AT HEADQUARTERS
 TWITTER BLUE

The verification process

How Twitter Blue destroys its

purpose (it unfolded in real time)

4000 characters limit for

subscribers

Community notes as the only way

of fighting against misinformation

More recently: 6000 posts

suspension
 MY SOURCES
Gehrke, Marília, and Marcia Benetti. “Twitter as a News Source in Data Journalism.” Brazilian journalism research 16, no. 3 (December 29,
2020): 410–31. https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.v16n3.2021.1277.
Conger, Kate, Ryan Mac, and Mike Isaac. “Confusion and Frustration Reign as Elon Musk Cuts Half of Twitter’s Staff.” The New York Times,
November 4, 2022, sec. Technology. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/technology/elon-musk-twitter-layoffs.html.
Hermida, Alfred. “#JOURNALISM: Reconfiguring Journalism Research about Twitter, One Tweet at a Time.” Digital Journalism 1, no. 3 (October
2013): 295–313. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2013.808456.
Hermida, Alfred. “Social Journalism: Exploring How Social Media Is Shaping Journalism.” In The Handbook of Global Online Journalism, edited
by Eugenia Siapera and Andreas Veglis, 1st ed., 309–28. Wiley, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118313978.ch17.
HuffPost. “Why Twitter Verifies Users,” March 12, 2013. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/twitter-verified-accounts_b_2863282.
Lasorsa, Dominic L., Seth C. Lewis, and Avery E. Holton. “NORMALIZING TWITTER: Journalism Practice in an Emerging Communication Space.”
Journalism Studies 13, no. 1 (February 2012): 19–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2011.571825.
Los Angeles Times. “Twitter Creator Jack Dorsey Illuminates the Site’s Founding Document. Part I,” February 19, 2009.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/technology-blog/story/2009-02-18/twitter-creator-jack-dorsey-illuminates-the-sites-founding-document-
part-i.
Vis, Farida. “TWITTER AS A REPORTING TOOL FOR BREAKING NEWS: Journalists Tweeting the 2011 UK Riots.” Digital Journalism 1, no. 1 (February
2013): 27–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2012.741316.
 THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ATTENTION :3