I’m wondering if this is the first time a UK newspaper - or indeed any UK business - has decided and debated a policy entirely online and on a public platform? Please let me know!
It started with a tweet. This one:
And then the whole thing snowballed, with my editor, Marc Reeves, publicly stating that he wanted The Birmingham Post to be the first UK newsroom fully signed up to Twitter:
Of course, such a statement wasn’t going to be ignored by those with an interest in online journalism: namely Paul Bradshaw from Birmingham City University and author of the Online Journalism Blog and Martin Stabe from the Press Gazette. There were two other tweets that I couldn’t find. One was Paul Bradshaw saying: “@marcreeves, can I quote you on that?” and another was a response from Marc: “@paulbradshaw gulp. go on then”:
So… from one tweet from me, The Birmingham Post has developed a policy to be the first UK newspaper to have all its journalists sign up to Twitter and decided to embark on a training programme for its journalists.
Then… after a little while… the policy was signed off by Editorial Director of Trinity Mirror’s regionals, Neil Benson (who, it appears, was also having a spot of bother with his iPhone):
From tweet to twittevolution. All in a day’s work off sick!!
Personally, I’m delighted to have been able to make such a positive contribution the discussion.
@Jez I think you’ll find the tiger appreciated it.
Woo! Great iddea, plan, and great to see the rest of the team joining in.
Great stuff