Yesterday two earthquakes shook Twitter. The first was the realization that we all knew before anyone else that there had been an earthquake in California. Instantly, tweeps in San Jose and San Francisco tweeted, “Earthquake!” As always, breaking news alerts lagged behind.
The second happening that rocked Twitter’s world, or at least the PR professionals and reporters who use it, was the official launch of a new media database of reporters who have Twitter accounts. The list was created by @prsarahevans, @skydiver, @melissahourigan, @edunigan.
Yesterday the list comprised almost 500 reporters. Today, it’s almost 700. Given the explosive growth, it was only a matter of time before someone raised concerns over PR people using the list to abuse reporters. But instead of a reporter introducing the point, it was a fellow PR professional, @kamichat.
In my opinion, Twitter is a golden opportunity for a fresh start between PR and reporters. For the first time, I feel I can really show reporters that I am not one of those PR people who call them over and over again to ask if they received my fax, but I am the kind of professional who will retweet their tweets. I am not the person who will pitch them something completely off topic, but I will send them tweets related to their beat. I won’t call them, but I’ll DM them.
For anyone who is considering using the new Twitter media database to spam reporters, I say remember that Twitter is self-policing. Reporters can always block you. My goal is that they follow me because they consider me to be a useful resource.
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Here’s another thought. How relevant will reporters be in this new Twitter world? It’s good they can block the spammers and nudnicks. With the ability to reach their customers directly, though, companies will become less and less reliant on beat reporters as conduits for their messages.