Tweeting the News
Case Study: News Organizations’ Twitter Coverage of the 2011 State of the Union
Address
Capstone Project
Submitted to
THE FACULTY OF THE PUBLIC COMMUNICATION GRADUATE PROGRAM
PROFESSOR GRAF
SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
WASHINGTONG, D.C.
In Candidacy for the Degree of
Masters of Arts
By
Allison Kind
Tweeting the News
Abstract
The role of micro-blogging and new media sites has drastically altered the
production of news and the function of traditional news organizations. With the advent
of social networking sites, news now aggregates through different online forums with a
stronger emphasis on audience involvement. An array of diverse media effects can be
observed on multiple social media platforms. This exploratory study takes an in-depth
look at different news organizations’ Twitter coverage of President Barak Obama’s 2011
State of the Union address. The study was conducted by collecting tweets, 140-character
text-based entries on Twitter, from fourteen different media organizations of five media
types in order to observe a variety of media effects within Twitter. These observations
provide evidence of Twitter’s transformation into a newsroom. The implications from
this study are great, shedding light on the future increased importance of online social
media platforms, especially Twitter, for news organizations and the production of news.
Keywords: Twitter, social media, news media and social networks
2 Tweeting the News
Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................2
Table of Contents.................................................................................................................3
Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.................................................................................................................6
Why Social Media and What is Micro-Blogging ........................................................6
What is Twitter?...........................................................................................................9
Social Media, Twitter and the News..........................................................................11
State of the Union Address ........................................................................................15
Methodology ......................................................................................................................18
Results................................................................................................................................20
Promotion...................................................................................................................20
Micro-Agenda Setting................................................................................................22
Framing ......................................................................................................................24
Twitter as Dialogue....................................................................................................26
Discussion ..........................................................................................................................29
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................37
Tables.................................................................................................................................40
Table 1 Tweets by Media Type and Twitter Handle .................................................40
Table 2a URL Link Frequencies by Twitter Handle .................................................41
Table 2b URL Link Name and Frequency by Twitter Handle ..................................42
Table 2c Retweet Frequencies by Twitter Handle.....................................................44
Table 2d Retweet Names by Twitter Handle.............................................................45
Table 2e @ Mention Frequencies by Twitter Handle................................................47
Table 2f @ Mention Frequencies by Twitter Handle ................................................48
Table 3 Tweet Frequencies by Topic of the 2011 State of the Union Address .........49
Table 4a Word Cloud Mentions by Twitter Handle ..................................................50
Table 4b Political Party Affiliated Word Frequencies...............................................51
Table 4c Politicians Mentions by Twitter Handle .....................................................52
Table 5a Hashtag Behavior by Twitter Handle..........................................................53
Table 5b Question and Audience Involvement Tweet Frequency.............................54
Appendix............................................................................................................................55
References..........................................................................................................................57
3 Tweeting the News
Introduction
Micro-blogging has become a phenomenon among the vast diversity of online
social media platforms. Micro-blogging can be defined as a new media technology that
allows “users to share brief blasts of information (usually in less than 200 characters) to
friends and followers from multiple sources including web sites, third-party applications,
or mobile devices” (DeVoe 2009, p. 212). Sites like Twitter, Jaiku, Yammer, Tumblr and
Plurk are among the many popular micro-blogging sites present today. Status update
capabilities on Facebook and MySpace however add micro-blogging aspects to profile
based social networks. The freedom and brevity of post topics on micro-blogging sites
can be more appealing to many as opposed to traditional blogging, which requires more
rigid topic structure.
Twitter, introduced in 2006, has become the most popular micro-blogging
platform. It reached over 50 million unique visitors worldwide in July 2009, just two
years after its launch (Rao, 2009). Twitter is a “free social networking service that
enables anyone to post pithy messages, known as tweets, to groups of self-designated
followers” (Farhi, 2009, p. 28). Twitter’s speed and succinctness make it an ideal
resource and online platform for reporters and newsrooms. Furthermore, social media
sites allow for increased audience involvement that traditional media often overlook. As
a journalistic tool, micro-blogging sites are able to combine the creation of news from
news organizations with a heightened awareness of the audience. Social media provides
news outlets a channel to reach their audiences quicker and more efficiently than ever
before giving online formats precedence when breaking news is reported. Microblogging sites, such as Twitter, have allowed news organizations to both monitor ongoing
4 Tweeting the News
news through crowd sourcing as well as distribute information quickly to a large
audience. Reporters frequently tweet from all types of newsworthy events such as
speeches, meetings and sporting events, facilitating the news cycle online (Farhi, 2009).
However, to what extent Twitter has uniquely changed the news industry remains unclear
and relatively unstudied.
In order to study how Twitter has changed news organizations and the news field,
an in-depth analysis of traditional media effects on Twitter was conducted. The study
uses the 2011 State of the Union address as a central media event to observe these effects.
The State of the Union, an annual speech given by the President of the United States,
attracts heavy news attention in traditional ways but this year also on social media
platforms. Monitoring news organizations’ tweets provides insight into the newsroom
atmosphere of Twitter.
By studying one specific media event, the main addition this research provides to
the social science community is insight into how major news organizations are beginning
to behave on Twitter and detail the impact of micro-blogging in reporting the news.
The role of Twitter as a newsroom can be observed through this snapshot of one
particular media event. The results and discussion sections explain this exploratory study
of news organizations’ efforts as promotion, micro-agenda setting, framing and dialogue
encouragement on the micro-blog Twitter.
5 Tweeting the News
Literature Review
This section will review literature on social media and micro-blogging networks
and their booming popularity within society as well as their increased role in the
production of news. In addition, this section contains an in-depth look at the history of
the State of the Union addresses and it’s past media coverage. This section concludes by
providing a preview of the 2011 State of the Union Twitter case study performed in this
study.
Why Social Media and What is Micro-Blogging?
The introduction of technologies like Web 2.0 drastically changed all forms of
online communication. Web 2.0 technologies provide individuals new ways to connect,
learn and work, and provide companies opportunities to promote, advertise and interact
with customers (Panteli, 2009). Through Web 2.0 technologies, more people can connect
and interact online. These connections between people with similar interests or goals
facilitate the development of a virtual or online community.
A virtual community can be defined as an “aggregation of individuals or business
partners who interact around a shared interest, where the interaction is at least partially
supported and/or mediated by technology and guided by some protocols or norms”
(Porter, 2004). These online virtual communities bring people together despite their
geographical distribution in order to build relationships and share opinions (Panteli,
2009). More virtual communities have emerged due to advancing Web 2.0 technologies
because they defy geographical boundaries in order to bring people together.
As part of the large web of online technologies facilitating the development of
online communities, social networking sites (SNS) are online platforms where people
6 Tweeting the News
create personal profiles and link to others within the same community (Boyd and Ellison,
2008). “The very nature of SNS creates this sense of ‘infrastructure,’ as each profile
hosts ‘friends’ and ‘communities’ applications that function as an internal channeling
system” (Mellins, 2008, p. 255). Social networking sites have the power to not only
connect existing community members across geographical boundaries but to also aid in
establishing offline interaction (Mellins, 2008).
Three distinctive characteristics define these social networks: multimediated,
massive and multiplayer (Panteli, 2009). Online social networks are multimediated
because multiple types of media including but not limited to audio, video, text and photos
intersect, combine and work together on each platform. Virtual, or online, networks are
massive due to their large numbers of followers. Social networks depend on their
member numbers and the more connections within a network the more likely others will
be drawn to join. Lastly, online social networks have the capability to connect multiple
user players at once within their multiplayer online game technology. Players within
these game networks connect not only as competitors or teammates but also to share
experiences and socialize (Panteli, 2009, p. 8). These characteristics help to define online
sites and all pertain to the case study of Twitter that follows.
Social networking sites constantly evolve (Rutledge, 2008). “From its inception,
social networking has been a roller-coaster ride, quickly announcing new innovations,
garnering media headlines, attracting hundreds of millions of participants, and generating
significant buzz” (Rutledge, 2008, p. 16). While some networks were created in the late
1990s, the concept of social networking gained widespread popularity with the start of
sites like MySpace and LinkedIn in 2003 (Rutledge, 2008). Facebook’s launch at
7 Tweeting the News
Harvard University in 2004 and public expansion in 2006 brought heightened attention to
the advancing world of social networking. The popularity and explosion of online social
networks came as a result of Facebook, the site that reached 100 million users in less than
nine months (Prince, 2010).
Web 2.0 technologies allowed for the aforementioned social networks to be
created paving the way for blog-hosting sites. Since their beginning, blogs have been
used as forums for individuals to post user-generated content (Shepherd, 2009).
Blogging sites remain popular for not only companies to post updates of company
activity but also for journalists and the general public. As technology continues to
advance, new forms of online networking have emerged that stand out from existing
networks. As an offshoot of blogging, SMS, or texting, technologies were used in 2006
to create a new system or online network called micro-blogging (Shepherd, 2009).
Micro-blogging is a new media technology that lets “users share brief blasts of
information (usually in less than 200 characters) to friends and followers from multiple
sources including web sites, third-party applications, or mobile devices” (DeVoe, 2009,
p. 212). Similar to text messaging technology, micro-blogging is often referred to as
snippets of information broadcasted to a large audience. “Micro-blogging has been
defined as a new media technology that enables and extends our ability to communicate,
share some similarities with broadcast” (Hermida, 2010, p. 298).
Compared to traditional blogging, micro-blogging fulfills a need for faster
communication by encouraging more frequent short posts. “All that is required of microblogging is the ability to send updates quickly, repeatedly and succinctly” (DeVoe 2009,
p. 213). Furthermore, these sites offer users a “light-weight, easy form of communication
8 Tweeting the News
that enables users to broadcast and share information about their activities, opinions and
status” (Java, Song, Finin & Tseng, 2007, p. 1). Micro-blogging sites facilitate the
growth and expansion of online social networks by providing people the opportunity to
express themselves more and find others who are like-minded more easily.
All online social communities, including micro-blogging sites, require a large
audience or network in order to be successful. DeVoe explains the necessity of a network
by saying that “no matter which application you choose or the persona you craft—your
librarian self, a relevant mascot, or your library itself—actively soliciting friends and
followers in your real-life library community is key” (p. 213). Blogs, networks and
micro-blogging sites all require a large following to attract more users.
What is Twitter?
In 2006, the startup company Odeo, led by software architect Jack Dorsey,
created a new social network fueled by SMS technology called Twitter (Israel, 2009).
Twitter’s design was unlike anything seen before. “It was designed as a message system,
but the LiveJournal influence had slipped in. It was actually a very small blog – or
‘microblog’” (Israel, 2009, p. 22). After only two weeks, Jack Dorsey finished building
Twitter, originally called TWTTR, on March 13, 2006 (Israel, Twitterville, 2009).
As a micro-blogging site, Twitter allows users to post messages with no more
than 140 characters called ‘tweets’ that get distributed to people who elect to ‘follow’ that
specific profile (Arceneaux and Weiss, 2010). Twitter can be accessed from any device
including laptop and desktop computers but the “brevity of tweets makes the application
particularly suited to mobile devices” (p. 1263). Twitter users are more mobile with their
communication tactics and consumption of information than users of other social
9 Tweeting the News
networks. For example, 82 percent of Twitter users have cell phones and use them to
send text messages (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2009). The Pew Internet
Project Data Memo from February 2009 says that 35 percent of Twitter users live in
urban areas and the median age of a Twitter user is 31. In comparison, the median age of
a MySpace user is 27, Facebook user is 26 and a LinkedIn user is 40 (Pew Internet and
American Life Project, 2009).
Twitter’s tipping point for popularity was at the 2007 South by Southwest Festival
(SXSW), the world’s most popular interactive gathering.
“Attendees turned to Twitter to find one another and to share
recommendations of which day and night events to attend. Much
of the intimacy the SXSW veterans had bemoaned losing in Austin
was rediscovered in the virtual space of Twitterville” (Israel, 2009,
p. 33).
After the unprecedented positive reaction to Twitter, it was not surprising that it
was crowned Best Product of SXSW 2007. The South by Southwest conference allowed
Twitter to turn “mobile, social and viral” (Biglione, 2007).
Since these initial steps, Twitter’s growth as a micro-blogging site hasn’t stopped.
In June 2010, Twitter was attracting 190 million visitors per month with 65 million
tweets a day (Schonfeld, 2010). Twitter grew from 1.2 million unique visitors in May
2008 to 18.2 million in May 2009 (Prince, 2010). “The site has cut a new path right
through the overgrowth of information excess, showing all a new way to speak and be
heard” (p. 12).
10 Tweeting the News
As Twitter gains more public users, businesses and organizations have begun to
recognize the need to keep up with consumers online. Businesses now see Twitter as a
way to connect and interact with current or potential consumers. Past Nielsen studies
have shown that 88 percent of businesses have employed social media for marketing
purposes (Prince, 2010, p. 14). Seventy-two percent of businesses have been using social
media for only six months, hesitantly embracing this shift (Prince, 2010). “Fast
messaging that provides fast information is what enables businesses to communicate
quickly and concisely to their audience of followers” (p. 14). It is an effective means of
communication for large companies usually out of touch with consumers.
News organizations are among the many businesses seeking to join the online
conversation by becoming active on Twitter. CNN, BBC and Fox News are just a few of
the many news outlets joining Twitter (Prince, 2010). This project examines the use of
Twitter by fourteen news organizations taking an active role on Twitter. The intersection
of micro-blogging techniques and news organizations has become evident as more news
companies engage on Twitter.
Social Media, Twitter and the News
Throughout the past few years, online social networks and micro-blogging sites
have become fixed entities in basic newsroom activities and subsequently ingrained into
the news cycle. Online networks distribute information with rapid speed reaching more
people faster and easier than ever before.
Micro-blogging sites “enable millions of people to communicate instantly, share
and discuss events and are an expression of collective intelligence” (Hermida, 2010, p.
298). These new forms of networking, especially micro-blogging systems like Twitter,
11 Tweeting the News
have created a new para-journalism method initiating the use of “awareness systems” (p.
298). Awareness systems for journalists provide more ways to understand and
subsequently report on public information (Hermida, 2010). As an awareness system,
Twitter acts as a platform for people to turn to seeking information or updates about news
stories. Furthermore, in times of an emergency, Twitter acts a quick resource to find
snippets of information and provides an opportunity for others to spread information
throughout their network.
With all of the new opportunities that Twitter introduces, the traditional form of
journalism has shifted. What traditional journalism defines as fact includes information
or quotes from official sources, which in turn informs the majority of news stories. Now,
however, social media sites like Twitter allow for the digital dissemination of fragments
of news from both official and non-official sources over a variety of devices (Hermida,
2010). “Almost all news sites now use widgets that can be downloaded to a reader’s
personal browser or Web site to quickly link back to the ‘mother site’” (Emmett, 2009, p.
41). Online networks allow for communication to occur at rapid speed facilitating the
dissemination of news faster than ever before.
One of the more powerful influences that social media has had on news
organizations is its alteration to the flow of information model. With traditional media,
news information flows from the source directly to the public with rarely any feedback
loop from the audience to the source. Now, “the cyberdoor swings both ways,” as social
media creates an influx of user generated material and information circulation (Emmett,
2009, p. 41). News media sites, such as CNN, generate more exposure to previously
unreachable consumers through participation in online communities such as Facebook
12 Tweeting the News
and Twitter. There are numerous examples of the union between news media and social
media, including the over 32,000-fan PBS.org Facebook page and the National
Geographic YouTube channel (Emmett, 2009, p. 42). Facebook and Twitter have
allowed news organizations to reach out to an audience, ask questions, and ask for
information through crowd sourcing as a means to facilitate a two-way flow of
information. This has ultimately created a new form of interactive journalism.
Social media’s ability to quickly disseminate news now undermines the gatekeeping function of many journalists of traditional newsrooms. “Micro-blogging can be
seen as a form of participatory or citizen journalism, where citizens report without
recourse to institutional journalism” (Hermida, 2010, p. 300). “For many Twitter users,
learning about and sharing relevant and recent nuggets of information is a primary utility
of the service” (p. 4). Social media and particularly micro-blogging is transforming
traditional journalism. Hermida explains that the traditional form of news “as a
framework to provide reports and analyses of events through narratives, producing an
accurate and objective rendering of reality” has transformed into a “multi-faceted and
fragmented news experience” because of social media (p. 300).
Twitter is the most rapidly adopted online social media resource by news
organizations and has subsequently changed journalists. Now an essential tool for
journalists, Twitter is used to distribute breaking news with rapid speed. Twitter can be a
“serious aid in reporting” as a “breathing tip sheet for facts, new sources and story ideas”
(Farhi, p. 28). Twitter is used as a channel to both share information and report the news
facilitating the flow and aggregation of news (Hermida, 2010).
13 Tweeting the News
Twitter also behaves like a newsroom through its “Hashtag” marking on tweets
(Farhi, 2009). A “Hashtag” is “Twitter-speak for a group of tweets about the same
subject or event, indicated by a # sign and topic word (such as #swineful)” (p. 29).
Through Hashtags, reporters can use Twitter as a community-organizing tool for their
own newsroom purposes.
The earliest manifestation of Twitter as a newsroom was in October 2007 during
the Southern California wildfires. Many news organizations utilized Twitter during the
emergency including the Los Angeles Times and San Diego public radio stations. The
news organizations found that Twitter helped by “efficiently dispatching urgent bits of
information – evacuation orders, shelter locations, firefighting progress – to large groups
of mobile people” (Palser, p. 54). Twitter supplemented these newsrooms by creating an
additional channel to distribute information to a wide base of followers. In the case of
the California wildfires, Twitter’s role as a newsroom with exciting capabilities was seen
first hand through its quick and efficient ability to distribute news.
In addition to supplementing an existing newsroom, Twitter can stand alone as an
independent news channel (Palser, 2009). Stand-alone channels will “send rapid-fire
tweets during breaking news events, invite suggestions and questions from subscribers
and post self-contained updates that don’t require the user to click to a Web page”
(Palser, p. 54). The micro-blogging nature of Twitter allows for the consumption of news
to occur without supplemented materials like websites provide.
But perhaps the most practical function of Twitter is its direct connection to
audiences (Palser, 2009). Twitter acts as a “direct link to elusive and valuable
audiences,” making it essential for any newsroom atmosphere. Twitter users are
14 Tweeting the News
significantly more likely to get information from a newspaper on a smart-phone, cell
phone or Web site than non-Twitter users (Pew Internet and American Life Project, p. 4).
Twitter members turn to online platforms to get news more frequently than traditional
sources. Therefore, Twitter reaches a unique niche market of younger people who are
interested in news but choose alternative platforms than traditional sources (Palser, p.
54).
Twitter’s ability to reach a large audience instantaneously creates an opportunity
for journalists and news organizations to use it as a newsroom-like platform. As
mentioned earlier, the first best-known example of Twitter as a newsroom was during an
ongoing emergency. However, now, Twitter has become more of an aggregate of news,
shifting into a channel frequently visited by people looking to receive information about
ongoing news stories. This exploratory study focuses on the role of Twitter for news
media during the 2011 State of the Union address. As a central, highly publicized event
for the country, the behavior of news organizations on Twitter can provide evidence to
how Twitter has shifted into a unique type of newsroom.
The State of the Union Address
The phrase “State of the Union address” was first coined with President Franklin
D. Roosevelt in 1934. Since 1936 when FDR delivered the first speech in front of
Congress, the State of the Union (SOTU) address is typically given on the last Tuesday in
January of each year with heightened media attention. Past literature explicates the
importance of the SOTU because it conveys policy positions of the president to the
general public. SOTU addresses are “cherished political communication events that help
bridge formal separations of power among American governmental institutions”
15 Tweeting the News
(Barabas, 2008, p. 196). The deeply rooted significance of the SOTU address is tied to
Section 3 of the Constitution stating that the president must “give Congress information
of the State of the Union” (p. 196).
A unique aspect of the SOTU address is that almost all politicians come together
for this event. “It is extremely uncommon to have the president, members of the cabinet,
both chambers of Congress, and members of the Supreme Court gathered together on one
night to listen to a nationally broadcast speech” (p. 196). It is customary for one member
of the cabinet to stay behind in case of an emergency at the SOTU so that one person
remains in command.
The SOTU naturally attracts heavy press attention as a “multi-faceted report
typically touching on a wide variety of national issues, it also has the potential for
extensive subsequent coverage in the press” (Gilberg, Eyal, McCombs and Nicholas
1980, p. 585). The President of the United States is a major source in the daily flow of
the news. Therefore, when the president speaks, news attention will be given. However
the SOTU draws a particularly large amount of news media and has a lasting effect on the
agenda of news.
President Barak Obama delivered the 2011 SOTU address on January 25 speaking
on a wide variety of topics spanning the economy, defense, energy and education. The
speech ran approximately 61 minutes in length with around 45 stops for applause from
the audience.
The SOTU address has always attracted traditional media attention, however,
social media played a more significant role in assisting SOTU coverage this year. As an
exploratory study in order to understand the role of Twitter as a newsroom, the tweets
16 Tweeting the News
posted by news organizations during the span of the SOTU were studied and analyzed for
different media theories. News organizations’ tweets were looked at through the lens of
an array of theories including promotion, agenda setting, framing and dialogic methods in
order to provide evidence to Twitter’s transformation into a newsroom.
17 Tweeting the News
Methodology
The purpose of this study is to analyze the use of Twitter by different media
organizations during the 2011 State of the Union address. Tweets were collected from 6
p.m. to 12:30 a.m. to gather information throughout the entire night of the event. In order
to collect such data, a breakdown of media sources active on Twitter was the first step in
the study. Tweets from a variety of media types including cable TV, network TV,
newspaper, website and blog sources were collected. Overall, 26 different Twitter
accounts were monitored and collected as data, encompassing 14 different media
organizations. Cable TV sources included Fox News, CNN and MSNBC while the
network TV sources collected from were ABC, NBC and CBS. The Los Angles Times,
New York Times, Politico, The Hill, USA Today, Washington Post and The Wall Street
Journal were collected to get a wide variety of national newspaper outlets. Furthermore,
Huffington Post was represented as a website organization in order to get a glimpse of an
online publication’s relationship with Twitter.
After the speech, the White House released a Word Cloud, a graphic that gives
“greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text” for the 2011
State of the Union address (White House, 2011). This graphic displays a variety of
words from the speech giving more prominence to those most frequent. The top 15 used
words were coded for within the tweets while President Obama was speaking and can be
used to analyze an effort at framing. The word cloud allows the exploratory nature of
language use and repetition to be studied.
The Wall Street Journal interactive graphic “Speech Patterns” breaks the 2011
State of the Union speech into topics by time. Using this information, the tweets were
18 Tweeting the News
coded by topic to match the sections in the graphic. A possible relationship between time
per topic in the State of the Union and number of tweets can show an agenda setting
effect on Twitter.
In addition to coding for a possible framing and agenda setting effect, specific
frequency patterns of Twitter behavior were recorded. Comparing news organizations’
Twitter feeds during the State of the Union can shed light on the Twitter media
atmosphere and its transformation into a newsroom.
19 Tweeting the News
Results
This study of Twitter during the 2011 State of the Union address highlights how
news organizations utilize the online platform making it a newsroom. Table 1 lists the
frequency of tweets for each Twitter handle observed in the study. A Twitter handle can
be defined as the name of the specific Twitter profile. The handles detailed in the study
and tables are as they appear on Twitter. The 26 different handles encompass a variety of
media types and fourteen organizations. ABCPolitics tweeted the most with 132 tweets
or 21 percent of all tweets collected and Foxheadlines tweeted the second most with 57
tweets or 9 percent of tweets collected. The results section is divided by each theory used
to analyze the tweets.
Promotion
As online technology and platforms continue to gain popularity, businesses are
adapting to incorporate new forms of communication with customers as well as new
marketing techniques. Viral marketing is a recent online phenomenon that allows
businesses and companies to promote themselves and target more specific audiences.
Prince (2010) explains viral marketing as an “outreach approach in which you put the
word out about a product, event, or service and then encourage the recipients of your
message to tell their networks of friends – people you don’t yet know yourself – about the
news, too” (p. 161). Viral marketing has replaced the traditional word of mouth
communications lost in an online platform. Companies encourage online community
members to promote and further circulate information throughout a network as a viral
version of word of mouth marketing techniques.
20 Tweeting the News
There are a few tweet characteristics on Twitter that signify efforts at promotion.
The most popular use of promotion on Twitter can be seen in the frequency of URL links
embedded within tweets. Users can place links to websites in tweets bringing the
audience to another website outside Twitter. In addition, Twitter provides an option to
“retweet” a different user’s tweet. By either clicking the “retweet” button or placing the
letters “RT” next to a tweet, the Twitter user is signifying a retweet. Retweeting allows
for seamless links or mentions to other Twitter handles. Lastly, the @ symbol on Twitter
allows a tweet to link to another Twitter user’s profile, a useful tool for those within a
larger organization to use. Placing a “@” before a Twitter user’s name turns the name
into a hyperlink connecting to their tweets. These processes on Twitter allow promotion
to be demonstrated on a Twitter feed. Tables 2a through 2f detail the promotion
techniques found among the different news organizations studied during the hours
leading up to, during and following the 2011 State of the Union address.
Table 2a outlines the frequency of URL linking among the Twitter handles chosen
in the case study. The percentages were measured in order to compare the frequency of
URL linking between the Twitter handles. Eighteen of the 26 Twitter handles included a
specific URL link in 50 percent or more of their tweets. Fourteen of the handles included
links in 90 percent or more of their total tweets and eight handles put a link 100 percent
of the time, which means in every tweet there was an embedded link. In all, 336 tweets
out of 638 or 53 percent of tweets contained some URL. Almost all of them were
references to original content back to source websites, which in turn promotes the
organization at large. Table 2b points out what specific URL links were tweeted by each
21 Tweeting the News
handle. From the table it can be noted how often a Twitter handle links content to
another site of the same organization and rarely something unrelated.
Table 2c shows the frequency of retweets by each twitter handle. The percentages
show that none of the handles retweeted content more than 50 percent of the time.
TheHill retweeted 12 times totaling 48 percent of its total tweets, which was the highest
percentage of all 26 handles. A few handles included a retweet within the tweet allowing
a comment to be posted before the actual content. Table 2d lists the names of Twitter
members that each organization retweeted. The table provides evidence that retweets are
linked by main organizations. For example, a Twitter handle will more often than not
retweet a reporter from the larger associated organization and rarely a non-related person.
These @ mentions help promote a news organization when linked to reporters from the
same organization. Connecting to another Twitter handle associated with the larger
group will give added exposure to other Twitter members. In total, 65 tweets out of 638
or 10 percent contained an @ mention.
Table 2c explains the frequency of @ mentions by Twitter handle. No handle
included an @ mention more than 50 percent. The highest percent of @ mentions was
from ABCNews with 14 total or 41 percent of total tweets. Table 2f shows that these @
mentions are rarely someone not associated with the organization tweeting the original
content. For example, both ABC and NBC only mentioned people associated with their
organization to help continue driving content to their original site or tweets.
Micro-Agenda Setting
Iyengar and Kinder (1987) explain agenda setting as the process when national
news attention to some stories influences the public to emphasize those highly focused on
22 Tweeting the News
stories as the most important facing the country. Particular issues and prominent people
such as politicians play a central role in media creation. Salience is the theoretical
premise behind agenda setting as the cognitive processing of semantic information in
terms of receiving, processing and remembering information (Scheufele, 2000). The
term salience refers to a topic’s relative importance in an agenda through increased
attention. Therefore, the more a topic is discussed, the more likely it is to be on the
forefront of the news and public agenda. In this study it is important to note that “on a
national level, the President of the United States is not only the nation’s number-one
newsmaker, sometimes the president is the number-one agenda setter” (McCombs, 2005,
p. 165). The State of the Union sets the agenda on both traditional media and online
social media platforms because of the president’s ability to capture medias’ attention.
Agenda setting has “systematically sought to document the effects of mass media
on the audience’s cognitions” (Meraz, 2009, p. 683). Prior research has given evidence
to the converging of agendas across multiple platforms including online news and
traditional sites. Agenda setting effects usually take the strongest hold on issues that
most publics are not comfortable with on a daily basis, including international affairs,
war and presidential business (Meraz, 2009). Yagade and Dozier (1990) find in their
agenda setting study that abstract issues are more complicated and difficult to transfer to
an audience than concrete ideas.
Throughout the years, the president’s direct influence on the public agenda has
continued to grow (Gilberg et al., 1980). Through “televised press conferences and, most
importantly, through direct televised addresses to the nation,” presidents have the power
to influence or possibly set the national agenda (p. 585). Furthermore, Gilberg et al.
23 Tweeting the News
describe how the State of the Union is an especially powerful event in manipulating the
agenda. While the immediate audience is Congress, the SOTU reaches the entire country
that night and as a next-day story.
Prior research on agenda setting has concentrated on its effects within traditional
media organizations. This exploratory study looked at how agenda setting effects can be
seen within news organizations’ use of Twitter.
Table 3 illustrates the micro-agenda setting effect in the tweets collected while
President Obama was speaking. The Wall Street Journal online article briefed earlier
divides the speech into topics by time. For example, President Obama spoke about the
economy for 9 minutes. During those 9 minutes, 29 tweets were about the economy and
17 were unrelated. Looking carefully at the table, a small agenda setting effect can be
observed. As past research points out, the president has been able to influence the public
agenda directly through televised press conferences and speeches. From this table, an
agenda setting effect can be seen through the correlation between time spent on topic and
total number of tweets both related and unrelated. The economy received the most
overall number of tweets, not including the introduction and conclusion portions of the
speech. Twitter in this sense magnifies the effect of the news focus on the specific topics
of the speech.
Framing
Entman (2007) defines framing as “the process of culling a few elements of
perceived reality and assembling a narrative that highlights connections among them to
promote a particular interpretation” (p. 164). News organizations not only pay attention
24 Tweeting the News
to important content but also the shape, tone and wording of messages as a means to
create a frame.
Scheufele (2000) describes a media frame as “working outlines for journalists,
allowing them to quickly identify and classify information” (p. 306). Through these
frames, journalists can distribute and package information quickly to a large audience.
Using a few techniques on Twitter, news organizations have a way to create a news frame
on social media.
Using the White House word cloud of the speech, this small effort at framing can
be observed. The frequencies of the top 15 words used in the speech were collected and
subsequently coded for within the tweets during the speech and can be seen in table 4a.
The top 15 words included “new,” “American,” “education” and “years.” These words
tell a small story about the speech and the messages the president was trying to convey.
By coding for specific political words in the Twitter feed during the six hours
surrounding the SOTU, an effort at media frame creation can be identified. The words
“Obama,” “GOP,” “Tea Party” and “Democratic Party” were coded for throughout the
entire 638 tweets. These frequencies can be found in table 4b. Eleven of the 26 Twitter
handles recorded over 50 percent of tweets containing a word associated with a political
party. ABCPolitics used the word “Obama” 72 times, which equals 55 percent of their
total tweets.
Table 4c helps to explain attempts at framing by news organizations during the
SOTU through coding for mentions of politicians by political party. One hundred and
twenty tweets of 638, or 19 percent of total tweets, mentioned a politician. Eighty-six of
those tweets were mentions to Republicans while 34 were mentions to Democrats.
25 Tweeting the News
ABCPolitics mentioned a politician the most, 41 times, with 33 Republican mentions and
8 Democrat mentions. As for newspapers, the top 3 were Washingtonpost with 7 and
Politico and Thehill with 6. The fact that Twitter only allows 140-characters per tweet
creates challenges to overcome when deciding what content and language to include.
The amount that different news organizations quote or reference politicians can shed light
on an attempt to frame a 140-character tweet in a particular tone. In the discussion
section of the paper, the argument will be made that maybe this technique is not so much
framing but rather the study of word choice.
Twitter as Dialogue
Dialogic communication is rooted in the concept of two-way communication
channels. This two-way method provides an opportunity for an organization or person to
have communication with the consumers or the general public. Dialogic communication
is “any negotiated exchange of ideas and opinions” (Kent and Taylor, 1998, p. 325).
Furthermore, the term dialogic implies a give and take between two parties, and in the
case of Twitter, between the news organization and its followers.
Companies use Twitter to promote dialogue in order to make a “greater effort to
keep users either engaged on the company’s Twitter profile or within some other social
networking site maintained by the company” (Rybalko and Seltzer, 2010, p. 339).
Twitter has become a tool for companies to provide visitors to their Twitter feed a chance
to participate in a dialogue and possibly share opinions (2010). Napoli (2010) explains
how the term mass communication is now expanding to further include the role and
participation of the audience. Companies now have access to feedback from their
consumers by listening to people actively tweeting about their products. With dialogic
26 Tweeting the News
communication now playing a vital role in online social networks, the audience has
received more attention and therefore importance. Organizations on Twitter use certain
key characteristics within tweets placing more emphasis and importance on the audience
or their followers. First, a Hashtag, or the # symbol, is used to facilitate conversation on
Twitter and to create a central area to access information about a certain topic. On the
night of the SOTU the news organizations used the Hashtag “#SOTU” as a way to
communicate to viewers, participate in an ongoing public discussion about the speech
and relatively test the tone of the public’s response to the SOTU.
Table 5a details the frequencies of Hashtag mentions by media type collected
throughout the entire night. From the table, 12 of 26 Twitter handles mentioned a
Hashtag in at least one tweet and three of them had a Hashtag in 100 percent of their
tweets. The most popular Hashtag from that night was #SOTU/#sotu as the column
indicates in table 5a. Table 5b shows the frequencies of tweets containing a question and
tweets with audience involvement. Cable TV Twitter handles contained the least amount
of question tweets while network TV Twitter handles had the most of both question
tweets and audience involving tweets. In general, there were more tweets involving the
audience or instructing the audience to do something rather than tweets with questions in
them. This may shed light into the communicative nature of Twitter showing how certain
media types utilize the role of the audience more frequently than others. From this
exploratory study it can be observed that certain media types use Twitter to different
extents and take advantage of dialogic communication more than others.
The results of the study give evidence to how news organizations use Twitter to
facilitate and circulate news through the lens of different communication theories. This
27 Tweeting the News
study culminates in the subsequent discussion section, which explains these results as
evidence of how the online social media platform Twitter has taken shape as a newsroom.
A discussion of these effects and news organizations’ effort at creating a news flow on
Twitter follows below and implications of social media’s future is suggested.
28 Tweeting the News
Discussion
In this section, the argument that Twitter is a newsroom is made by analyzing
evidence of tweets viewed through the lens of a variety of media effects. Studying how
media effects such as promotion, micro-agenda setting, framing and dialogic
communication are shown through tweets during the 2011 State of the Union
demonstrates Twitter’s role as a newsroom. Implications about the future of social media
can subsequently be made.
The use of promotion demonstrates how news organizations are starting to use
Twitter as a means to spread recognition of their organization’s name and reporters. The
results show that 53 percent of all tweets included a URL link, 12 percent had retweets
from other Twitter handles and 10 percent contained an @ mention. These methods of
promotion help spread the organization’s name and attract attention to its original
content.
Traditionally, news organizations attempted to keep readers on their websites for
as long as possible. This exploratory study suggests that news organizations are
beginning to treat social media platforms in a similar way. These promotional tools such
as URL linking, retweets and @ mentions allow for Twitter users to sift through
information from one original source on Twitter without leaving that specific Twitter
feed. The use of promotional tools by news organizations suggests the intentional
attempt by traditional media to promote a public agenda of news on social media.
Furthermore, the results of the study show how overwhelmingly promotional
Twitter is. As an online social network, news organizations are evidently using Twitter
as a means to push their identity and brand name into a network of not only other news
29 Tweeting the News
organizations but also online news consumers. At first, Facebook provided an
opportunity for organizations to create a strong online identity directly targeted towards
an audience. Twitter has established an alternative option to Facebook for companies and
in this case particularly news organizations to promote their identity online. News
organizations are taking to Twitter more often than Facebook because of its simple
distribution model lacking distracting profile applications. This simplicity factor of
Twitter aids news organizations in focusing their news distribution and conveying
important information to their followers. Promotional tools on Twitter help news
organizations keep users engaged in their content similarly to how company websites
treat site visitors.
Along with promotional factors, the small-scale agenda setting effect observed
provides evidence of the shift Twitter has experienced from an online network into a
thriving newsroom. The study suggests that news organizations now place more
emphasis on Twitter as an essential component of their company and brand identity.
When comparing number of tweets distributed during the president’s speech with time
spent per topic, non-related tweets were rarely present. Simply, the more time spent on a
topic allows for more tweets to be distributed. There were always more topic related
tweets than non-topic related tweets during those times. Since the number of topic
related tweets coincided with time spent per topic it can be suggested that news
organizations use Twitter as a means to keep up with the agenda set by the speech. In
order to remain relevant within the news atmosphere, news organizations used Twitter in
this case to tweet topics related to the speech. Therefore, the topics in the president’s
speech set the public agenda and simultaneously set the online social media agenda.
30 Tweeting the News
This micro-agenda setting effect evidenced through studying the time/tweet ratio
demonstrates Twitter’s natural ability to be a newsroom-like atmosphere. Past research
has identified a traditional flow of news influence from traditional news sources like
newspapers towards non-traditional ones like blogs or social media (Meraz, 2009). This
study took a different approach by analyzing how agenda setting can be observed within
one kind of social media and not across different channels. The results show how on one
channel an agenda can be observed. The study provides evidence of the power that the
president has to set not only the offline public agenda but also the Twitter agenda.
From table 3, it can be seen that time and number of tweets coincide, implying a
parallel agenda. Because of the fast pace and immediate nature of micro-blogging, the
tendency to keep up with ongoing and breaking news often fuels the frequency and
content of tweets. The increased salience of news stories outside Twitter drives the main
focal points of tweets. The results from this study suggest that social media platforms
may be extremely sensitive and responsive to public agendas.
Therefore, it can be implied that online social media platforms do not set an
agenda but nearly follow already trending news topics to facilitate the flow of news. The
tweets during the State of the Union generated discussion and circulation of an already
set agenda by the speech. News organizations are beginning to use Twitter as a means to
continue following an agenda specifically when it concentrates on one focused media
event such as the State of the Union. The nature of the tweets was informational,
therefore demonstrating Twitter’s function as an awareness system. Since it acts as a
newsroom, more people seek updates on Twitter about something in the public agenda.
31 Tweeting the News
Furthermore, using the White House word cloud, it can be shown that the tweets
during the State of the Union paralleled the speech. The most frequently used words by
President Obama in his speech appeared in 17 percent of all tweets while he was
speaking. This suggests that news organizations utilized Twitter as a means to mimic
similar language by the president. Including similar language on Twitter as news outside
Twitter may suggest that news organizations actively want the two newsrooms to be
similar.
As briefly mentioned in the results section, framing theory plays a small role in
explaining Twitter’s transformation into a newsroom. Using a loose definition of
framing, the study of news organizations’ language repetition and use on Twitter paves
the way to understanding its role as a newsroom. This part of the study questions the
140-character limit nature of Twitter, which often causes challenges when crafting
messages. Specific word use like “Obama” and “GOP” and the number of politicians
mentioned were coded for as a method to capture the political tone of the tweets. In 140characters, news organizations more often than not include something political as a
means to remain relevant to a current public agenda, in this case the State of the Union.
The analysis of specific language use gives way to how news organizations use Twitter to
facilitate the news with their specific frames.
A written media frame allows journalists to easily create news and distribute it to
an audience. This exploratory study suggests that specific words and repetition patterns
are used to help create a media frame in 140-characters. Establishing a media frame on
Twitter helps build consistency within a news organization’s tweets. The overabundance
of tweets mentioning “Obama” or a politician is something to take particular notice of. In
32 Tweeting the News
this case, throughout the entire night of the State of the Union, news organizations’
tweets remained predominantly political. Perhaps, Twitter, as a journalistic platform,
takes the shape of news occurring at one specific point in time. Because the night
focused on the State of the Union and the political topics President Obama discussed
throughout the speech, the focus of the tweets were primarily political in nature. In
another case, as in the California wildfires from 2007, when the main public news agenda
focused on natural disaster, the tweets focused on the emergency and providing
information on those events, creating its frame.
The use of “Obama” was the most common among all Twitter handles. By using
“Obama” in tweets, organizations may be building a credible frame behind their Twitter
feeds. When the word Obama appears in a tweet, it draws attention from users since the
president is a news headliner. The high amount of Obama mentions may suggest that
handles use buzzwords in tweets as a means to draw people’s attention similar to how
web articles use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques. SEO allows web articles
to have better access on search engine searches through using keywords. By using
buzzwords, Twitter feeds enact SEO-like behavior furthering its activity as a newsroom.
Buzzwords are used to highlight some important topic grabbing the attention of users
seeking specific information. In a way, Hashtags on Twitter act as buzzwords for handles
to use in their tweets. They not only allow participation in an ongoing conversation but
also provide a focus to the tweets.
Efforts at promotion, micro-agenda setting and framing in terms of strategic
language use by news organizations on Twitter provide evidence to its role as a
newsroom by suggesting that Twitter members use the 140-character limit as a way to
33 Tweeting the News
create headline-like tweets. The nature of a tweet is short and staccato and must be able
to stand alone. Therefore the 140-characters must convey an independent newsworthy
mention. In this study, the language and topics of tweets correspond to both the speech
topics and the speech text signifying purposeful strategic methods behind news
organizations’ Twitter feeds.
Using these communication theories, a Twitter feed can be looked at as a
journalistic tool. The nature of the 140-character tweet allows for news organizations to
thematically structure a Twitter feed like news story headlines. Tweets are short snippets
of information often like a headline by providing enough information to standalone but
with a catch to draw curiosity from the reader. Tweets must convey information that is
newsworthy, attention grabbing and relevant to an outside news agenda in order to get
followers to view the tweet or to click further through their Twitter feed.
Through these methods, social media users can communicate and reach an
audience instantly, a characteristic distinctly unique from traditional news platforms.
Unlike newspapers and television, online networks have the power to immediately
interact with an outside party. Looking at news organizations’ use of Twitter through the
lens of communication as a dialogue can explain how Twitter acts as a multi-dimensional
interactive newsroom.
News organizations are beginning to use the role of the audience more to their
advantage on Twitter. Exactly 50 percent of total tweets contained a Hashtag facilitating
discussion with Twitter members, and of those tweets 95 percent contained the Hashtag
#SOTU. The interaction between the audience and news organizations on Twitter is what
takes its newsroom like appearance and behavior to an interactive level. Online social
34 Tweeting the News
networks can instantaneously connect to and crowd source, or seek information from an
audience member, capabilities traditional news outlets don’t have. Through social media,
newsrooms are gaining this interactivity with their viewers. News organizations on
Twitter have shown an increased attention to and awareness of the vast audience using
social media through questions, suggestions, media use instruction and Hashtag
placement. Furthermore, traditional news organizations are connecting with people who
may only receive news from social media platforms.
Overall, this exploratory study examines how news organizations utilize Twitter
during one specific media focused event. The State of the Union, while very publicized,
attracted more attention this year within online social networks and especially on Twitter.
News organizations are putting more effort towards social media and the role it plays in
their overall identity as a news organization.
Twitter’s instantaneous nature has propelled its transformation into a newsroom
over the past few years. What makes Twitter stand apart from other online networks is
its SMS technology that allows for quick, rapid messages to be distributed. These tweets
can reach a large audience quickly, unlike traditional media sources like TV. Throughout
the past few years, companies have started using Twitter as a resource for distributing
information quickly and efficiently to an audience. In this study, during the State of the
Union, news organizations used Twitter as a means to keep up with a national agenda that
had already been set outside of Twitter. Furthermore, specific categories that were coded
for provide evidence to how news organizations are beginning to embrace Twitter as a
journalistic tool.
35 Tweeting the News
Online social media and journalism are quickly merging together as the line
between them becomes less distinct. Traditional journalism has started to appear online
as news organizations further adopt and integrate social media into the daily news
production. This exploratory study gives way to implications to the use of Twitter and
other online social media platforms in the news industry.
36 Tweeting the News
Conclusion
Social media networks and especially the micro-blog site Twitter have caused the
once rigid line between online communication and journalism to fade. This exploratory
study provides evidence of how the traditional news industry is adopting Twitter into its
daily practices. Originally, the interactive nature of new social media like Twitter led
many people, notably politicians and other leaders, to use Twitter to convey a particular
message or influence the agenda of national news. As sites like Twitter gained influence
and began to serve as information centers, traditional news organizations began to take
notice and sought to gain a presence in the network. The involvement of these traditional
news organizations has further turned Twitter into an Internet newsroom, capable of
generating original news stories and analysis but also disseminating information from an
in-progress agenda to an even wider audience.
The continued use of Twitter as an agenda-setting tool by news organizations, as
seen during the State of the Union address, has further blurred the line between reporting
and reaction. As mentioned earlier, Twitter has begun to take an awareness system
identity, one which acts as a resource for the public to seek information.
Ironically, what began as a purely interactive forum has now morphed into a
major center of newsgathering and dialogue. Twitter has become the ultimate echo
chamber by providing traditional news organizations with access to new readers and
information sources. Through efforts at promotion, agenda setting, framing and
communication as a dialogue, it can be observed that news organizations are taking to
Twitter as both a supplement to offline news tactics but also as a stand-alone newsroom.
Using the evidence of this study, it can be predicted that the intersection between news
37 Tweeting the News
organizations and Twitter will continue to blur as the two merge together. Twitter will
continue to advance as a news resource for both these news organizations already
currently active on Twitter as well as the general public of Twitter members. In the
future, traditional news organizations of all types will use Twitter as a means to reach an
audience when pushing and facilitating the public agenda. Twitter will continue to act as
an offshoot channel from news organizations that allows the public to seek snippets of
information for quick updates.
While this study demonstrates Twitter’s transformation into a newsroom, there
are a few limitations that need mention. First, the study of Twitter needs to be expanded
past one media event. The State of the Union address was used due to its unprecedented
media publicity, which would naturally generate attention on social media platforms. In
order to test the temperature of Twitter’s role as a newsroom, one media event was used.
Future research should expand this study to include more media events both political and
non-political. Second, a deeper understanding of the extent to which each media
organization uses its Twitter account may be useful for future research. Past history and
behavior of the Twitter handles used in this study would provide more evidence of the
changes each organization has experienced over the past few months as they further
incorporate Twitter into their news production. These two limitations of the study are
opportunities for future research to dive deeper into Twitter’s role as a newsroom and
further understand how news organizations are adopting Twitter as a news channel.
The role of Twitter in our society will only continue to grow and evolve as news
organizations advance to further integrate the micro-blogging site into the production and
distribution of news. Twitter provides news organizations opportunities to not only reach
38 Tweeting the News
a once unattainable audience but to use them in the process of making the news. As
Twitter establishes itself more as a newsroom, traditional media effects utilized offline
take more importance in shaping the form of news online. This study provides evidence
of the changes Twitter has brought to news organizations and subsequently the news
industry. As people continue to connect and network over news, Twitter will only gain
more popularity and responsibility in the journalism field.
39 Tweeting the News
Tables
Table 1 Tweets by Media Type and Twitter Handle
Media Type
Blog
Twitter Handle
Hillballotbox
Number of Tweets
2
Percent
<1
Cable TV
Foxheadlines
Cnnbrk
CNNPolitics
Msnbc_politics
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_breaking
CNN
57
29
27
8
5
3
5
9
5
4
1
<1
<1
<1
Network TV
ABCPolitics
ABCWorld News
NBCNews
ABC (News)
CBSNews
NBCNightlyNews
CBSEvening News
GMA
Theearlyshow
132
44
43
34
24
5
4
1
1
21
7
7
5
4
<1
<1
<1
<1
Newspaper
Politico
Washingtonpost
Thehill
Nytimes
USAToday
Latimes
WSJ
46
43
25
22
20
10
9
7
7
4
3
3
2
1
Website
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
31
8
5
2
Total
26
638
100
40 Tweeting the News
Table 2a URL Link Frequencies by Twitter Handle
Total URL
Mentions
1
Percent of Tweets
with URL Link
50
Foxheadlines
Cnnbrk
Msnbc_politics
CNN
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_breaking
CNNPolitics
56
28
8
5
5
3
1
9
97
100
100
100
100
4
Network TV
ABC (News)
ABCPolitics
ABCWorld News
NBCNews
CBSNews
CBSEvening News
GMA
NBCNightlyNews
Theearlyshow
17
17
15
9
2
2
1
1
0
50
13
34
21
8
50
50
20
0
Newspaper
Washingtonpost
Nytimes
Politico
USAToday
Thehill
Latimes
WSJ
39
22
18
18
13
10
9
91
91
39
90
52
100
100
Website
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
28
8
90
100
Total
26
336
100
Media Type
Twitter Handle
Blog
Hillballotbox
Cable TV
41 Tweeting the News
Table 2b URL Link Name and Frequency by Twitter Handle
Twitter Handle
URL Link
ABC (News)
ABCPolitics
abcnews.go.com
abcnews.go.com
blogs.abcnews.com
abcnews.go.com
abcworldnews.tumblr.com
cbsnews.com
cbsnews.com
cnn.com
politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co
m
ireport.cnn.com
politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co
m cnn.com
news.blogs.cnn.com
politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co
m
foxnews.com
video.foxbusiness.com
foxbusiness.com
abcnews.go.com
thehill.com
huffingtonpost.com
huffingtonpost.com
latimes.com
latimesblogs.latimes.com
theenvelope.latimes.com
msnbc.msn.com
firstread.msnbc.msn.com
msnbc.msn.com
msnbc.msn.com
firstread.msnbc.msn.com
msnbc.msn.com
firstread.msnbc.msn.com
yfrog.com, plixi.com,
ow.ly.com
twitpic.com
twitpic.com
nytimes.com
thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.co
m
gambit.blogs.nytimes.com
ABCWorldNews
CBSEveningNews
CBSNews
CNN
Cnnbrk
CNNPolitics
Foxheadlines
GMA
Hillballotbox
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
Latimes
Msnbc
(msnbc.com)
Msnbc_breaking
Msnbc_politics
NBCNews
NBCNightlyNews
Nytimes
42 Frequency
Total
Frequency
17
15
2
13
2
2
2
2
2
1
17
17
Percentage
(to total
tweets)
50
13
15
34
2
2
5
50
8
100
21
6
1
1
28
97
1
4
38
17
2
1
1
28
8
6
3
1
3
2
3
6
2
4
2
2
1
56
98
1
1
28
8
10
100
50
90
100
100
5
100
3
8
100
100
9
21
1
18
2
1
1
1
22
20
91
Tweeting the News
Politico
Theearlyshow
Thehill
USAToday
Washingtonpost
WSJ
Total
lens.blogs.nytimes.com
politico.com
politico.com/arena
N/A
thehill.com
usatoday.com
content.usatoday.com
mediagallery.usatoday.com
washingtonpost.com
voices.washingtonpost.co
m
live.washingtonpost.com
tweetpic.com
documentcloud.org
online.wsj.org
43 17
1
0
13
9
8
1
32
4
1
1
1
18
39
0
13
18
0
52
90
39
91
9
9
336
100
53
Tweeting the News
Table 2c Retweet Frequencies by Twitter Handle
Number of
Retweeted Tweets
0
Percent
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
CNN
Msnbc_politics
Foxheadlines
Cnnbrk
CNNPolitics
Msnbc_breaking
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
40
40
13
0
0
0
0
Network TV
NBCNews
ABCWorld News
ABC (News)
ABCPolitics
CBSNews
NBCNightlyNews
CBSEvening News
GMA
Theearlyshow
17
16
5
5
0
0
0
0
0
40
36
15
4
0
0
0
0
0
Newspaper
Thehill
Politico
Washingtonpost
Nytimes
USAToday
Latimes
WSJ
12
11
5
0
3
0
0
48
24
12
0
15
0
0
Website
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
0
0
0
0
Total
26
79
100
Media Type
Twitter Handle
Blog
Hillballotbox
Cable TV
44 0
Tweeting the News
Table 2d Retweet Names by Twitter Handle
Twitter Handle
Retweet Name
ABC (News)
ABCPolitics
Jaketapper
Michaelpfalcone
Clayton_sandell
Zbyronwolf
Keithellison
Judgetedpoe
Markudall
ABCPolitics
Johnsberman
Danbharris
Keithellison
Rickklein
Yunjid
CNNireport
PoliticalTicker
BreakingNews
BreakingNews
Chucktodd
KellyO
RussertXM_NBC
AdamVerdugo
DomenicoNBC
KVOA
MAlexJohnson
Mitchellreports
Msnbc and
Breakingnews
Newmediajim
SailorX
Scottwfoster
Peitabllerina
Benpolitico
Seungminkim
Govern_this
Myyankees2
Fritzscherz
DMarkPOLITICO
Abbydphillip
Pwgavin
Meredithshiner
Jaketapper
ABCPolitics
ABCWorldNews
CNN
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_politics
NBCNews
Politico
Frequency
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
9
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
45 Total
Frequency
5
Percentage
5
3
16
36
2
40
2
1
17
40
13
40
11
24
15
Tweeting the News
Thehill
USAToday
Washingtonpost
MPOThehill
Briefingroom
Gnagesh
Jordanfabian
TheOval
PostPolitics
FixFelicia
4
3
3
2
3
4
1
Total
46 12
48
3
5
15
12
89
14
Tweeting the News
Table 2e @ Mention Frequencies by Twitter Handle
Number of Tweets
with an @ Mention
0
Percent
CNN
CNNPolitics
Cnnbrk
Foxheadlines
Msnbc_politics
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_breaking
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
40
4
0
0
0
0
0
Network TV
NBCNews
ABC (News)
ABCWorld News
ABCPolitics
CBSNews
NBCNightlyNews
CBSEvening News
GMA
Theearlyshow
16
14
5
1
1
1
0
0
0
37
41
11
2
4
20
0
0
0
Newspaper
Politico
Washingtonpost
Nytimes
USAToday
Thehill
Latimes
WSJ
6
4
2
2
1
0
0
13
9
9
10
4
0
0
Website
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
5
3
16
38
Total
26
64
100
Media Type
Twitter Handle
Blog
Hillballotbox
Cable TV
47 0
Tweeting the News
Table 2f @ Mention Frequencies by Twitter Handle
Twitter Handle
@ Mention
ABC (News)
ABCPolitics
Michaelpfalcone
Jaketapper
ABC
ABCNewsNow
Jonkarl
Johnsberman
Johnsberman
VickimabreyABC
Samchampion
ABCNewsBlotter
Jaketapper
Cbsnewshotsheet
Cnnireport
CNN
CNNPolitics
ArthurDelaneyHP
HuffPostHill
Zachdcarter
Aterkel
Dceiver
ArthurDelaneyHP
Zachdcarter
NBCNews
Bwilliams
KellyO
Nbcnightlynews
Joenbc
NBCNews
TheCaucus
Politico
Jmartpolitico
Politicoarena
Amieparnes
Lisamurkowski
USATOpinion
TheOval
EdAtPost
GlennKesslerWP
TheFix
ABCPolitics
ABCWorldNews
CBSNews
CNN
CNNPolitics
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
NBCNews
NBCNightlyNews
Nytimes
Politico
Thehill
USAToday
Washingtonpost
Frequency
9
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
7
4
2
1
1
1
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Total
48 Total
Frequency
14
Percentage
2
1
5
11
1
2
4
40
1
5
4
16
3
38
16
37
1
2
6
20
9
13
1
2
4
10
4
9
65
10
41
Tweeting the News
Table 3 Tweet Frequencies by Topic of the 2011 State of the Union Address
Topic
Introduction
Economy
Education
Budget/deficit
Defense/terrorism
Government
International relations
Infrastructure
Energy
Health care
Immigration
Taxes
Domestic
Trade
Conclusions
Total
Time (minutes)
Number of
Topical Tweets
4:35
9:00
8:01
6:34
5:16
3:30
3:11
3:06
3:03
2:05
1:38
1:26
1:24
1:16
7:30
59:75
11
29
19
19
13
12
6
10
5
8
4
4
0
2
28
170
49 Number of
Unrelated
Tweets
1
17
10
5
4
3
4
3
1
0
2
2
1
1
18
72
Total
Number of
Tweets
12
46
29
24
17
15
10
13
6
8
6
6
1
3
46
242
Tweeting the News
Table 4a Word Cloud Mentions by Twitter Handle
Media Type
Twitter Handle
Number Word
Cloud Mentions
Blog
Hillballotbox
0
Percent of Total
Tweets with a
Word Cloud Word
0
Cable TV
Cnnbrk
CNNPolitics
Foxheadlines
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_politics
CNN
Msnbc_breaking
9
9
4
2
1
0
0
31
33
7
40
13
0
0
Network TV
ABCPolitics
CBSNews
ABCWorld News
ABC (News)
NBCNews
NBCNightlyNews
CBSEvening News
GMA
Theearlyshow
31
10
7
5
4
1
0
0
0
23
42
16
15
9
20
0
0
0
Newspaper
Politico
Washingtonpost
WSJ
Nytimes
USAToday
Latimes
Thehill
15
5
2
0
0
0
0
33
12
22
0
0
0
0
Website
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
3
0
10
0
Total
26
108
100
50 Tweeting the News
Table 4b Political Party Affiliated Word Frequencies
“Obama”
Count
“GOP”
Count
Hillballotbox
1
0
“Tea
Party”
Count
0
Cable TV
CNN
Cnnbrk
CNNPolitics
Foxheadlines
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_breaking
Msnbc_politics
2
20
13
16
3
1
2
0
4
1
2
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
Network TV
ABC (News)
ABCPolitics
ABCWorld News
CBSNews
CBSEvening News
GMA
NBCNews
NBCNightlyNews
Theearlyshow
18
72
15
13
3
0
6
2
0
0
3
1
4
1
0
1
0
0
0
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
Newspaper
Latimes
Nytimes
Politico
USAToday
Thehill
Washingtonpost
WSJ
3
1
19
9
11
15
3
0
2
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
Website
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
14
2
0
1
1
1
Total
26
264
23
11
Media Type
Twitter Handle
Blog
51 Tweeting the News
Table 4c Politicians Mentions by Twitter Handle
Total Number
of Politician
Mentions
2
Republican
Affiliation
Democratic
Affiliation
2
0
Cnnbrk
CNNPolitics
Foxheadlines
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_politics
Msnbc_breaking
CNN
7
7
4
1
1
1
0
6
4
3
0
1
0
0
1
3
1
1
0
1
0
Network TV
ABCPolitics
NBCNews
ABCWorld News
ABC (News)
CBSNews
CBSEvening News
NBCNightlyNews
GMA
Theearlyshow
41
7
7
6
4
3
1
0
0
33
5
6
1
4
3
0
0
0
8
2
1
5
0
0
1
0
0
Newspaper
Washingtonpost
Politico
Thehill
Nytimes
USAToday
Latimes
WSJ
7
6
6
2
1
1
0
4
4
4
2
1
0
0
3
2
2
0
0
1
0
Website
HuffPostPol
HuffingtonPost
3
2
2
1
1
1
Total
26
120
86
34
Media Type
Twitter Handle
Blog
Hillballotbox
Cable TV
52 Tweeting the News
Table 5a Hashtag Behavior by Twitter Handle
0
Number of
Tweets with a
Hashtag
0
Percent of
Total
Tweets
0
CNN
Cnnbrk
CNNPolitics
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_politics
Foxheadlines
Msnbc_breaking
5
24
13
2
2
0
0
5
24
13
2
2
0
0
100
83
48
40
25
0
0
Network TV
GMA
NBCNightlyNews
ABC (News)
NBCNews
ABCPolitics
CBSEvening News
CBSNews
ABCWorld News
Theearlyshow
1
5
25
32
68
2
11
15
0
1
5
25
32
68
2
11
15
0
100
100
74
74
52
50
46
34
0
Newspaper
Washingtonpost
Politico
Thehill
USAToday
Nytimes
WSJ
Latimes
28
30
8
10
4
2
1
33
33
14
11
5
2
2
77
72
64
55
23
22
20
Website
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
12
1
12
1
39
13
Total
26
303
319
100
Media Type
Twitter Handle
Blog
Hillballotbox
Cable TV
#SOTU, #sotu
Frequency
53 Tweeting the News
Table 5b Question and Audience Involvement Tweet Frequency
Media Type
Twitter Handle
Number of Tweets
with a Question
Blog
Hillballotbox
0
Number of Tweets
Involving the
Audience
0
Cable TV
Foxheadlines
Cnnbrk
CNNPolitics
Msnbc_politics
Msnbc (msnbc.com)
Msnbc_breaking
CNN
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
11
2
1
3
2
1
1
Network TV
ABCWorld News
NBCNews
ABCPolitics
ABC (News)
CBSNews
Theearlyshow
CBSEvening News
GMA
NBCNightlyNews
12
5
4
3
1
1
0
0
0
24
18
11
11
5
1
2
1
1
Newspaper
Washingtonpost
USAToday
Nytimes
Politico
WSJ
Latimes
Thehill
3
3
2
1
1
0
0
15
6
5
8
7
1
2
Website
HuffingtonPost
HuffPostPol
2
1
10
4
Total
26
43
153
54 Tweeting the News
Appendix
State of the Union 2011 Twitter Study: Coding Sheet and Variable List
Yes = 1, No = 0
Items in bold are variables:
1. Twitter handle: The name of the Twitter account sending out the tweet
2. Tweet: The 140 character or less word statement issued by the Twitter account
3. Time: What time was the tweet sent out, eastern standard time
4. Media Type: Code for if the Twitter handle was either:
a. Newspaper
b. Blog website
c. Cable TV
d. Network TV
Involving Outside Voices
5. Retweet Tweet: If the tweet issued by the twitter handle was previously tweeted
by another source; contains “RT” somewhere within the tweet: Yes/No
6. Name: Who’s tweet was retweeted from the previous column?
7. Modified Tweet: If the tweet issued by the twitter handle has “MT” somewhere
within it: Yes/No
8. Name: Who’s tweet was modified from the previous column?
9. URL Linking: Does the tweet connect to the news media’s home ownership
page? Yes/No
10. @Mention: Does the tweet contain a “@” symbol referring to another Twitter
handle? This does not include a retweet or modified tweet, only a mention
through the use of a Twitter handle. Yes/No
11. Outside Mention: Does the tweet mention reference to another person’s
comments or opinions? This does not include a retweet or modified tweet, only if
a persons name was mentioned. This also does not include politicians. Yes/No
12. Name: If the tweet does mention someone else, who is this person
13. Politician: Was a politician mentioned in the tweet? Yes/No
14. Part, Name: Is the politician a Representative or a Senator, and what is their
name?
a. What political party is the politician associated with:
i. Republican = 1
ii. Democratic = 2
15. “Obama”: Was “Obama” mentioned in the tweet? Yes/No
16. “GOP”: Does the tweet contain the phrase “GOP” as a reference to the
Republican Party? Yes/No
17. “Tea Party”: Was the “Tea Party” explicitly stated in the tweet? Yes/No
18. Democratic Party: Was the general Democratic Party mentioned anywhere in the
tweet? Yes/No
55 Tweeting the News
Discussion (Orientation toward Deliberation)
19. Hashtag: Does the tweet contain the symbol “#”? Yes/No. This symbol signifies
a trending topic or issue and places the tweet in a larger discussion
20. Hashtag Subject: What does the “#” say after the symbol? Example: #Obama
21. Questions: Does the tweet ask a question?
22. Audience Involvement: Does the tweet involve the audience in any way? This
can include asking for feedback, showing survey results, including reading for the
audience.
23. Quote Only: Is the tweet only a quote with no other commentary? Yes/No
24. Quote Within the Tweet: Is there a quote in the tweet but surrounded by other
commentary or statements prefacing the quote? Yes/No
25. Opinion Tweet: Is the tweet someone’s opinion? Does the tweet reference to a
person’s commentary or opinion? Yes/No
26. Statement Tweet: Is the tweet solely information and no commentary? Does the
tweet simply pass on information about something? Yes/No
27. Multimedia: Does the tweet allude to videos or pictures?
a. Videos = 1
b. Pictures = 2
Unrelated Topic Discussion
28. Random Tweet: Was the tweet unrelated to the State of the Union speech?
Yes/No
29. Random Tweet Subject: What was the tweet about if not the State of the Union:
a. US
b. World
c. (SOTU)
30. According to the White House Word Cloud from the State of the Union
address, the following 15 prominent words were seen most frequently in the
speech. Does the tweet contain these words, Yes/No:
a. New
b. People
c. Years
d. Jobs
e. Make
f. American
g. America
h. Government
i. Future
j. Nation
k. World
l. Country
m. Business
n. Americans
o. Education
56 Tweeting the News
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