Fast-tracking Twitter tips to BreakingNews: We’re excited to announce a new feature that allows news organizations to fast-track news tips straight to BreakingNews.com and potentially, @breakingnews on Twitter.
Here’s how it works. Once we’ve whitelisted a news organization’s Twitter account, appending @breakingnews or #breakingnews anywhere in a tweet will pop it in front of our editors on this page. If it’s a breaking story with national or regional interest — and it’s the first we’ve seen of it — we’ll publish it on the BreakingNews.com home page, our three mobile apps and potentially on Twitter and Facebook, too. The bigger the story, the more places it goes.
For the news organization, that means a burst of traffic and perhaps a few new Twitter followers. For us, it helps BreakingNews find stories faster (we receive a daily avalanche of Twitter replies and mentions) and give credit where credit is due. All we ask is that the tips stick to original breaking stories that have a regional or national interest. Our goal is to link the source of breaking stories, not rewritten copies of it.
Nearly 40 local TV stations (of all affiliations) and newspapers have opted into the program. If you’re a news organization that routinely covers breaking news of regional interest, send us a note (to the editor) with the Twitter handle on this contact form.
