Breaking Tweets

Summary

Breaking Tweets was an international journalism news web site that tracked world news through the use of Twitter and distributed its content via the Internet. It considered its content to be "hyperlocal gone global," personalizing major news events through relevant tweets from around the world.[1]

Breaking Tweets
Type of site
News aggregation & blogging
FoundedJanuary 2009
Headquarters,
United States
Founder(s)Craig Kanalley
IndustryNews
URLwww.breakingtweets.com
RegistrationFree

After launching on January 31, 2009, the site launched three spin-off sites, Breaking Tweets Sports, Breaking Tweets Entertainment, and Breaking Tweets Chicago. The main site, the world version, received visits from 194 countries and more than 100 news organizations in its first six months.[2]

Notable stories edit

The site was known to provide tweets sent from the scene of breaking news events. It posted tweets from the scene of an apparent attack on the Dutch royal family in the Netherlands on April 30, 2009.[3]

The site was recognized by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies for its coverage of the 2009 Iranian presidential election, particularly its ability to provide information from Iran through a network of trusted sources.[4] One day after the Poynter article was published, the site's founder claimed that Breaking Tweets was blocked in Iran.[5]

It also posted tweets from the scene of the 2009 Jakarta bombings on July 17.[6]

Reviews edit

The site was noted for its innovation in the journalism community. In addition to recognition for its coverage of the Iran election, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies also reviewed the site in April 2009, stating its usefulness "organizing the scattershot universe of all Tweets into comprehensible topics about specific places, times, and reaction to news events."[7] Journalism.co.uk highlighted the site's ability to personalize the news in its review.[8]

Other reviews on the site were posted by blogs around the world. The biggest criticism of the site was that it operated in English only.

A blog in Russia mentioned the language barrier but also said the site was "very creative."[9]

A French blog called Breaking Tweets "a mashup of a hot news with tweets directly linked to this news", stating that tweets were manually selected by journalists and "arranged so that they fit in a natural way in an article to tell the story authentically."[10]

The site was also reviewed by blogs in Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Greece.[11][12] [13]

The class edit

Students at DePaul University contributed to Breaking Tweets in the fall of 2009 as part of the class "Digital Editing: From Breaking News to Tweets", which DePaul said was "believed to be the first college-level journalism course focused solely on Twitter and its applications".[14]

Breaking Tweets was specifically mentioned in articles about the class by the Los Angeles Times,[15] Wall Street Journal,[16] Gawker,[17] and The Chronicle of Higher Education.[18]

References edit

  1. ^ "About". Breaking Tweets. Archived from the original on August 1, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  2. ^ Kanalley, Craig (July 31, 2009). "Letter from the Editor: Breaking Tweets Turns Six Months Old". Breaking Tweets. Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  3. ^ Kanalley, Craig (April 30, 2009). "Apparent Attack on Dutch Royal Family Fails at Parade on Queen's Day". Breaking Tweets. Archived from the original on September 6, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  4. ^ Iverson, Barbara (June 24, 2009). "Breaking Tweets Web Site Helps Track Updates about Iran". Poynter Online. Archived from the original on August 5, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  5. ^ Kanalley, Craig (June 28, 2009). "BreakingTweets.com Blocked in Iran". blog.craigkanalley.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  6. ^ Kanalley, Craig (July 16, 2009). "Twitter User Reports from Scene of Jakarta Explosions". Breaking Tweets. Archived from the original on July 22, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  7. ^ Iverson, Barbara (April 30, 2009). "Breaking Tweets Organizes Twitter". Poynter Online. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  8. ^ Oliver, Laura (2009). "Breaking Tweets: Personalising the News Using Twitter". Journalism.co.uk. Archived from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  9. ^ alexei_morozov (February 28, 2009). О микроблоггинге #16: Twitterfone, Twit2do, Toanswer, Breakingtweets и Href.in. Trend Blog (in Russian). Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  10. ^ Nguyen, Thien (February 26, 2009). "Breaking Tweets, une nouvelle manière de raconter l'information". Bloxx (in French). Archived from the original on June 28, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  11. ^ "10 Defining Factors: Breaking Tweets". Top Ten Blog Tips. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  12. ^ Willing, Milos (February 26, 2009). "Twitter Reaktionen zu den aktuellen Nachrichten aus der Welt – Breaking Tweets". Tweetnews Blog (in German). Archived from the original on October 29, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  13. ^ Breaking Tweets, τα νέα του κόσμου στο στιλ του Twitter. LaptopBlog.gr (in Greek). Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  14. ^ "DePaul Explores New Frontiers of Journalism with Courses on Twitter, Entrepreneurial Journalism". DePaul University. August 31, 2009. Archived from the original on September 5, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  15. ^ Milian, Mark (September 2, 2009). "Twitter 101: A College Class All Abt Tweets (97)". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 7, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  16. ^ Kurutz, Steven (September 1, 2009). "Twitter 101: DePaul University's Social Media Prof Gives His Syllabus". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  17. ^ Tate, Ryan (September 1, 2009). "Twitter 'Investigative' Journalism 101: The Syllabus". Gawker. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  18. ^ Parry, Marc (September 2, 2009). "J-Schoolers at DePaul U. Study Breaking Tweets". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on September 6, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.

External links edit

  • breakingtweets.com
  • Breaking Tweets Chicago