By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff
DES MOINES - After covering several presidential campaigns and living in Washington for five years, I know many members of the national political press corps.
Yet working now from Boston, and writing more often from a desk as I handle additional editing responsibilities, I'm not out in the field as much as in the past.
That provided fresh energy during the past nine days, as I have traveled across Iowa covering its presidential caucus campaign.
One benefit has been reconnecting with old journalism friends. But what has really struck me are the new friends who greeted me along the way: people I had never met but have come to know through Twitter.
"Hi @globeglen," said one of them, Jennifer Jacobs of The Des Moines Register, using my Twitter 
We both laughed at our mutual familiarity with someone we didn't really know.
It was much the same when I bumped into NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander.
I have admired his work for years but never met him face to face, yet last week, we traded a long-lost-friends handshake after meeting at a restaurant.
"It's amazing how you can spot someone from a 2cm-by-2cm photo," he wrote in a follow-up email.
Meanwhile, my old friend Kelly O'Donnell gave me a big hug when I saw her, but the NBC News congressional correspondent said, "I feel like I see you every day on Twitter."
Twitter has revolutionized political coverage, not only pushing instant reporting to an even higher frequency, but allowing thought to congeal much faster as every action is greeted with an instant mass reaction.
One Mitt Romney aide expressed exasperation this week that no sooner had the candidate offered his $10,000 bet to Rick Perry than he was being pilloried on a Twitter
Twitter has also provided a new town square for politicians, the politically curious, and the people who cover it all.
US Representative Steve King, a western Iowa Republican who was courted by many of the GOP caucus candidates, used his Twitter
Candidates haven't even smoothed the wrinkles out of a new sweater vest, or laid down a plasma metal cutter, before photos of their exploits are visible online via a TwitPic.
As for reporters, Twitter has become a great place to break news, promote their scoops, or keep abreast of candidates other than the one they are covering.
Ben Smith of BuzzFeed and Politico says he now gets most of his news via Twitter - all in 140-character bursts.
But as the past week has shown me, Twitter has also provided a new form of name tag.
People come to associate you with your Twitter handle and photo.
Some reporters, such as Jonathan Martin of Politico, prefer to go incognito (well, as incognito as JMart can go). His avatar isn't a personal photo, but a rotating cast of famous political shots.
Chuck Todd, the chief White House correspondent for NBC News, takes a slightly different tack: since everyone knows his mug from "Today" and "Nightly News," he instead promotes his network by tweeting alongside a picture of a peacock.
Other reporters choose to give a sense of their personality.
Peter Hamby of CNN is reliably hip, and he conveys that in a Twitter photo showing him in a suit with a thin black tie and a set of dark glasses.
Still other reporters have attracted daggers from some of their colleagues, prompting complaints of tweeting too frequently and hogging the community space.
My takeaway from it all is this: People who know each other are sharing a lot of information between themselves with Twitter.
But people who don't know each other are also getting to know one another through this social medium, as well.
A word to the wise: When picking a Twitter handle and photo, choose carefully.
Without typing even a single character, you will already be making an impression on your followers.
And this name tag sticks.
No comments:
Post a Comment