We 'banned' Twitter for a week in the Insider newsroom. Here's how it went.
Julie Zeveloff West
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Originally published on INSIDER.com.
As US Editor-in-Chief of Insider, I recently set a challenge for the newsroom: No Twitter during work hours for one week.
As most reporters know, Twitter can be an echo chamber. And it can also be a time suck.
The most common feedback I heard was that the challenge helped reporters and editors realize how much time they spent on Twitter each day, and to get some clarity on how to use it more effectively going forward.
But overall, the newsroom is glad to have Twitter back.
I recently set a daunting challenge for the Insider newsroom: No Twitter during work hours for one week.
That meant reporters and editors could not look at Twitter or Tweetdeck, and could not tweet, while they were at their desks.
As I explained in a memo laying out the experiment, "by 'banning' Twitter for a week, we are challenging you to develop your own ideas, improve your reporting skills, and become more productive." (I put "ban" in quotes because we still had a couple of editors monitoring it during the day to make sure we didn't miss major news stories.)
To be clear, the idea for such an experiment did not come specifically from Insider's newsroom, which is filled with talented, smart, and creative journalists. But I did hope that it would help them to become more aware of the impact Twitter has on their work.
While Twitter can be a valuable resource, there were a few reasons I wanted our newsroom to spend a week without it.
As most reporters know, Twitter can often become an echo chamber. And it can be a crutch for journalists who simply use it to catch bits of news or form "quick takes" based on what others are saying, without considering what is really newsworthy or relevant to their audience.
For that matter, Insider's audience isn't really on Twitter. Insider's main Twitter account, @thisisinsider, has 310,000 followers, but Twitter sends less than 1% of total traffic to our website. (True, many people also follow Insider for the videos.)
Twitter can also be a time suck. Frankly, if you are posting random musings about what you watched on TV last night or retweeting memes while you're supposed to be working, it's a good way to let your boss know you're not doing your job. She probably follows you.
So how did it go?
I'm glad we did this challenge — but the Insider newsroom is glad to have Twitter back.
The most common feedback I heard was that the challenge helped reporters and editors realize how much time they spent on Twitter each day, and to get some clarity on how to use it more effectively going forward.
Our reporters took advantage of other news-gathering tools. They reported looking more frequently at the homepages of other news outlets, feeds from the AP and Reuters news wires, and tools like Dataminr and CrowdTangle, which surface trending news from Twitter and other social media platforms.
They also took advantage of the time away from Twitter to do more original reporting. "I think this week I made more reporter calls ... than earlier, when I would have leaned on a reputable tweet," said senior reporter Alex Lockie.
Many appreciated the break for their own mental health. "I noticed I was less on edge and less rattled by little arguments of the news each day," said science reporter Hilary Brueck. "It's nice to have a little space for reflection now and then, and realize that we don't live in a totally polarizing world, if we can just think quietly and reflect before reacting."
There were some critical Twitter functions that the Insider newsroom missed during our hiatus.
We didn't miss any major stories, but we were a little slower than usual to pick up a couple of stories that were gathering steam. That's not necessarily a negative, because we were able to add more context or report those stories more thoroughly before publishing them. But part of our is mission to inform readers as news happens, and Twitter does play an important role for us in covering breaking news.
Many reporters confessed that they felt out of the loop on their beats and missed out on important conversations among fellow journalists. But without the Twitter echo chamber, reporters and editors also had to form their own conclusions about the most compelling angles for news. Generally, that's a positive. And Twitter's response to a bit of news can also help reporters and editors to inform their coverage decisions in smart ways.
Another drawback was that journalists frequently use Twitter to track down sources. We missed that aspect of it.
Reporters were frustrated not to be able to tweet links to their own stories during the week. While Twitter may not be where most readers find Insider, it's a critical platform for reporters and publications to burnish their reputations. Said editor Ben Goggin, "using Twitter to promote your own stories still seems like an important tool to spread our brand and journalism."