Online Journalism News

Local UK newspaper to use Twitter for live sport reporting

Posted: 25/04/08 By: Laura Oliver

Email this story | Comments

Screenshot of Evening Leader's Wrexham FC Twitter account

The Evening Leader will experiment with micro-blogging platform Twitter to provide real-time coverage of local football fixtures.

The tool will be used this Saturday to provide 140 character live updates from Wrexham FC's home match against Accrington Stanley.

The coverage will be available on the paper's website, through a widget, and to followers of the paper's Wrexham Twitter account.

The newspaper already publishes links to its news stories through a separate Twitter account set up last week.

Martin Wright, deputy editor of the Evening Leader and lifelong Wrexham fan, will post the updates using his mobile every few minutes throughout Saturday's game.

"I go to as many Wrexham home games as I can, but inevitably I end up missing some. When I’m at work this can be a bit of a problem because I want to know the score and what’s happening all the time - not just when the final whistle goes," Wright told Journalism.co.uk.

"By Twittering live from the match we can now make sure that other Wrexham fans don’t have this problem."

A successful experiment could lead to football reports via Twitter becoming a regular feature of the website.

"Twitter may sound a bit geeky to some people but it’s simply a website that allows us to offer an extra service to our readers," said Christian Dunn, digital editor of the Evening Leader.

"Sending messages from a mobile phone to Twitter during a football match means we have a very cheap and simple way to keep a section of our site regularly updated. It’s another way the Evening Leader is embracing web technology to offer our readers a better service."

For tips on how to use Twitter read Journalism.co.uk's piece How To: master Twitter, if you're a journalist.

Got a story? Email our news team: Laura Oliver; Judith Townend or telephone +44 (0)1273 384290. You can also follow us on Twitter: @journalismnews / @LauraOliver / @JTownend.