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Newspapers that Twitter
A study by a journalist from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on her personal blog shows that news agencies are finding Twitter more and more important to their work. Erica Smith (here's her Twitter) observes that CNN anchors and the Chicago Tribune have used the service to great success.
"[The Chicago Tribune] recently picked up a tip from a Twitter follower about a bomb threat, and was able to share information through Twitter and the Tribune’s Web site." Just as July's bomb threat situation at LAX was developing, LAist was able to confirm that something was going on by searching LAX on Twitter (and yes, we have a Twitter account too). In some ways, Twitter has become the first news wire to check for breaking news.
Smith ranked the top 10 newspaper Twitter accounts in popularity finding that the New York Times not only came in first (geez obviously), but dominates the list with its various topic specific accounts. USA Today and the Wall Street Journal came in second and third with the Austin American-Statesman at fourth. The Chicago Tribune comes in at ten and unfortunately its sister company, the LA Times with it's eleven or so accounts, is not up there yet. Their Travel account is the most popular with Top of the Ticket trailing in second.
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