Collaboration: Why it’s the key to breaking news

I pay close attention to Twitter trend trackers like TweetScoop (which feeds the Twitter tag cloud on this site) and the excellent newcomer Twist. A good list of other Twitter trackers can be found here.

One breaking news story over the last few days that had a seismic impact on the Twitter radar was sparked by Iowa Supreme Court’s decision to allow gay marriages.

It provided a great example of a switched-on newsroom using Twitter not just to follow the buzz surrounding this controversial issue, but to help create the public platform for comment and debate. And in so doing, the Des Moines Register doubled the daily unique users to its site.

Cavan Reagan, social media editor of The Register, sent out a tweet to the paper’s 2,300 followers in advance of the court hearing: ‘We’re going to feature #iagaymarriage tweets on our story. Please use that hashtag to join the discussion’.

It worked. The register ran hundreds of citizen tweets on a dedicated page as well as alongside its news and analysis. Citizen voices meshed with professional reporting to drive and enrich a developing, live story.

What also caught my eye was the way other news organisations collaborated by using the same hashtag for their reports, effectively sharing dynamic content for the benefit of all.

Collaboration, at all levels; in all directions, is becoming the keystone of local journalism and is already finding its voice in breaking news coverage. I explored two further shining examples in recent posts: Coverage of the G20 protests and severe flooding in Washington state.

In these and the Des Moines case, Twitter was at the core of crowdsourcing, citizen journalism and instant comment. The Times used CoveritLive to bring its collaboration to life. In Washington, the collaboration between rival publishers was underpinned by the ‘link journalism’ platform Publish2

Finally, it feels like journalists have the tools to do the job.

Check out the landing Twitter page at the Des Moines Register. Not only does it project Twitter-friendly journalists and invite the participation of readers, but promotes separate news, sports, younger lifestyle and entertainments feeds.

Nothing new there – but each feed aggregates to a dedicated website that aspires to be a collaborative community space and who’s content is “mixed by the Des Moines Register”.

And that’s the telling phrase. It no longer says ‘brought to you by …’ It’s not information aimed at, but shared with.

‘Mixed by …’ That spells collaboration.

♦ Shall we dance? Collaboration is here to stay. Photo credit: My Alternative Photos/Flickr.com