Media On Twitter Lists Media Professionals in the Twittosphere

There is no question that the social communications tool Twitter has hit a tipping point. In recent days, Oprah sent her first tweet, Ashton Kutcher became the king of Twitter and just about everyone has been talking about the implications of Twitter’s 140-character updates on traditional media.

As a PR professional, Twitter is a great resource for connecting, following and better understanding the interests of the media and other like-minded professionals. But the most fascinating observation or take away for me has been the amount of information that is shared across the board. Everyday is like walking into a classroom with a community of people who, for the most part, want to contribute and share informative links and pieces of information.

More specifically, it is through Twitter that I am learning more about the media than I have in the past 12 years of my profession. However, while a large percentage of media are using Twitter and similar tools, their awareness on the platform is surprisingly low. The social Web has helped to create a shift in influence and unfortunately, the media is taking a hit. But what if it was as simple as driving attention to the media who are active on Twitter? I have to imagine that we are all caught up in following friends and those with similar interests that we may overlook the large majority of media who are discussing their stories, posting links and breaking news on Twitter.

With these considerations in mind, a concept was born where media contacts on Twitter could be added to a shareable and user-powered database and given to the PR community to use for free.

A Database Built by the Community, For the Community

Teaming with several social media PR pros (who coincidentally I only knew about because I followed them on Twitter), we gathered existing Twitter media lists and combined them into one shareable database powered by TrackVia’s online database technology. A week later, the MediaOnTwitter team was formed including social media PR maven Sarah Evans, Peter Shankman, infamously known for HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and Ed Dunigan from TrackVia. Working closely with Ed Dunigan, we were able to create the most comprehensive MediaOnTwitter global database available. There were a few late night work sessions but the opportunity to give the Twitter community something useful was driving the team to get it done.

A week into launching the database, Brian Solis, a well-known Social Web evangelist and accomplished author, joined the team to help support and promote the MediaOnTwitter database. We also had quite a bit of support from Dave Taylor, infamous blogger and speaker.

What is MediaOnTwitter?

MediaOnTwitter provides a free resource for locating media by beat, location, name or media outlet on Twitter. To put it simply, MediaOnTwitter is populated by Twitter users, vetted by editors and is free to the entire community. Users submit information via an easy-to-use web form where entries go directly to site editors for approval.

The MediaOnTwitter Database allows media and PR pros to:

COLLECT media contact information using a web form that will automatically populate in a shareable database

ORGANIZE a growing list of media and bloggers from around the world as well as sort and view contacts by country, media outlet or name.

SHARE media on Twitter information with the PR community through dynamic published reports accessible to the community at several locations.

Where can I find MediaOnTwitter?

Starting today, the shareable database can be found at: MediaOnTwitter and on PR Sarah Evans‘ blog. The great news, no matter where you submit information, the global database will auto-populate on all sites.

It is also important to mention that Eli Gerson of Design & Image joined the team just last week and created the great design for the MediaOnTwitter home page.

The team behind MediaOnTwitter will continue to maintain the database and monitor contributions to protect the integrity of the database and ensure that this truly is a free tool. Join us and let us know what you think.

Serving as a technology evangelist for over a decade, Melissa Hourigan is a Partner at Digital Idea Media
builds integrated PR programs that are customized to the needs of technology start-ups. Melissa is not afraid to challenge clients to think differently, take risks and utilize new methods for getting the word out and leading the discussion whether it’s participation on Twitter, guidance on social communities, blogging, podcasting or crowdsourcing a new idea.

Follow Melissa on Twitter at @melissahourigan or visit her blog at http://www.startuptechpr.com