An Excuse to Twitter at Your Desk

By monitoring Twitter, aviation reporter Julie Johnsson of the Chicago Tribune learned about a YouTube video involving a dispute between United Airlines and Dave Carroll, a passenger who says the airline damaged his guitar. A later tweet also gave her an end to the story – a donation to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz from United in Carroll’s name.

“I learned about the donation Friday night, via a tweet from United. Coincidentally, I first heard about Dave Carroll’s video from aviation contacts on Twitter,” Julie says in an e-mail. “So, monitoring social media is rapidly becoming an essential part of beat coverage for me -- and also a handy excuse if an editor walks by while I’m on Twitter.”

Today’s Tip: Follow what’s being said about companies you cover on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. Information that doesn’t make it into press releases may land on these sites and provide you with a solid scoop.

For a great primer on how to use Twitter and helper programs such as TweetDeck and Twhirl, see "The Mossberg Solution" from July 14 on wsj.com.