National Sports Journalism Center

ESPN is moving to formally engage with Twitter, seeking to better serve sports fans wanting a “second screen” during games.

Details are here, from SportsBusiness Journal’s John Ourand. What ESPN reportedly plans sounds less like breaking new ground than about catching up with some good current practices; plenty of sites have created Twitter lists expressed as news feeds on their pages. What interests me is the network’s plans for using Twitter as a newsgathering tool – Ourand says it’s committing its editorial staffers to follow a list of 2,000 sports figures on Twitter. (Many of ESPN’s writers and on-air reporters are already on Twitter, of course.)

That led me to think about the best way sportswriters late to Twitter can get started. If you’re a Twitter veteran, this will likely be old ground for you, but here’s hoping there’s a tip you haven’t considered, or a newcomer you can pass this on to.

Why should you be on Twitter, anyway? The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy asked that question recently, dismissing Twitter as a fad. I’ll give you two reasons, either one of which ought to be enough.

First off, Twitter has more than 200 million users and is adding some 600,000 a day. Those users produce around 350 billion daily tweets. (Heck of a fad, Mr. Shaughnessy.) Sports fans were some of the service’s early adopters – as I explored in last week’s column, Twitter and sports make for a very good match. To adapt a line from bank robber Willie Sutton, you should be on Twitter because it’s where the readers are.

Second, as ESPN has recognized, Twitter has become a significant source of news. Teams, leagues, agents and athletes increasingly use it to break news, and athletes can be less guarded and more interesting in their tweets than in stilted locker-room exchanges. No reporter or columnist can afford to ignore such a significant and growing news source.

So how do you start? Here are five ways, which you can try all at once or one at a time:

1. Follow and Listen: I think starting by following 2,000 people will overwhelm a Twitter newbie. My suggestion would be to build your own list by searching for and following people you know personally or professionally, then following folks who share your areas of expertise and interest, whether they’re sources, competitors, fellow hobbyists or what have you. That should give you a list of at least 100 people. Though you didn’t think of it this way, what you’ve done is constructed a pretty effective news feed that’s customized for you.

Check in on that news feed every few hours, even if you’re forcing yourself at first, until you find you can scan efficiently, picking out interesting tweets from chatter. Over time, you’ll find that you discover more and more news through your feed than through your usual web rounds – until you’ll find yourself reflexively turning to Twitter to search for more detail about breaking news. (More on this here.)

That’s the foundation of Twitter – and if you do nothing else with it, it’s still pretty valuable. From there, build up the number of people you follow by seeing if interesting people are on Twitter, by checking out people followed by the people you follow, and by looking at who’s following you and seeing if you want to follow them back. This will grow your list without overwhelming you.

(By the way, one thing I like about Twitter is I don’t have to follow people in my circles whom I dislike. If they write something really important, people we know in common will mention it or retweet it. This is childish, but satisfying.)

2. Spread the Word: Twitter is where the readers are, so provide a steady stream of links to your work. (You’ll want to use a link shortener, such as the one within TweetDeck, so the URL doesn’t take up your entire 140-character limit.) Use the rest of your precious characters to craft a hook for the reader that makes them want to click, and leave enough characters for people to pass on the URL, your username and a bit of their own commentary. The shorter the better! Don’t be shy – the people following you are doing so because they want to know what you’re thinking and writing. Similarly, if you have a bit of news or an analytical thought, shoot it out there. Maybe it’s something you’ll develop into a column later, or an interesting idea that stands alone. Either way, your followers may want to hear it.

3. Talk Back: Twitter feeds that are just broadcast links are a lost opportunity for writers to take advantage of Twitter’s ability to forge connections. So watch for mentions of your Twitter ID, and if people are asking you questions or commenting on your work, talk back – they’re starting a conversation that it’s in your interests to continue. Not all mentions require a reply, and if you wind up with lots of followers you’ll have trouble talking to everyone, but most reasonable people will acknowledge good-faith efforts. And a lot of web critics are vicious because they assume no one is reading — a measured response can turn a critic into a supporter.

Now that you’re talking back, you can also retweet tweets you find interesting, informative, funny or bizarre – it’s generally accepted that retweets aren’t necessarily endorsements. And feel free to mix up your usual fare with personal asides and even what you’re having for lunch, if it’s sufficiently notable. You don’t want to let this personal stuff outweigh the actual news you’re providing, but a little of it gives readers a sense of you as a person, which helps build loyalty. I’ve followed a lot of beat writers more closely online after discovering they’re loose and funny on Twitter.

4. Avoid a Couple of Bad Habits: Don’t get cowed by self-professed Twitter scolds – Twitter is too new for there to be ironclad rules about what to do and not do. But that said, some basic safeguards are a good idea. Twitter is public and lasts forever, and you’re your own editor. Read over what you’re about to tweet before you send it. Then read it again. Have you misspelled or garbled something? Is the URL you’re sending out the right one, or something that you copied earlier? Are you posting something publicly that’s supposed to be a direct message (DM) to someone? Are you about to post something that you meant to search for? All of these are mistakes that are easy to make and can be painful.

At the risk of being a Twitter scold myself, I wouldn’t fight on Twitter. For one thing, it draws a gossipy crowd, making it hard to back down gracefully. For another, that 140-character limit makes it hard to have an argument of any substance. If exchanges get testy, stay professional – and suggest the discussion continue via direct messages (which are private between people who follow each other) or email.

Oh, and please don’t tweet gripes about sportswriting from the press box.

5. Relax: Twitter isn’t a fad, but it’s still pretty new, so don’t worry about it so much. People accept that it’s looser, more off-the-cuff and human than more formal means of communication. It takes time to get used to it. You’ll make mistakes (I’ve violated every bit of advice on this list) and you’ll find there are things that don’t come naturally to you. (My tweets are too long and I’m bad about replying.) It’s OK – we’re all figuring it out together. If you’re a newbie, dive in – you’ll be an old pro before you know it.

Jason Fry is a freelance writer and media consultant in Brooklyn, N.Y. He spent more than 12 years at The Wall Street Journal Online, serving as a writer, columnist, editor and projects guy. While at WSJ.com he edited and co-wrote The Daily Fix, a daily roundup of the best sportswriting online. He blogs about the Mets at Faith and Fear in Flushing, and about the newspaper industry at Reinventing the Newsroom. Write to him at jason.fry@gmail.com, visit him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.