Victoria Raimes, who joined the Edinburgh Evening News just two weeks ago, had been in conversation with a Twitter follower about his Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, but sensed a scoop when her contact mentioned the discovery of a dead body in the flat above his.
After following up with her contact on the initial details, Raimes went to the scene to interview police and neighbours and discovered that the body, reportedly of 90-year-old Isabella Purves, had gone undiscovered for five years.
Raimes, who recently completed a postgraduate degree in newspaper journalism at City University, told Journalism.co.uk that she had been encouraged to use Twitter and social networking sites to uncover news leads throughout her course.
Having signed up for the microblogging service in November last year, Twitter had become a great tool for making contacts in a new area, especially when limited resources been less time to get out of the office, she added.
Social media has allowed her to make 'old school contacts' in a short space of time, explained Raimes.
Sites such as Facebook and Twitter give journalists access to new contacts that would not previously have been possible and also boast 'useful and helpful' communities, she said.
Last week's story was featured on the front page of the EEN and picked up by nine Scottish national papers.
But social networks are useful for smaller stories too, she said. She frequently uses Twitter and Facebook to secure page three leads, story ideas and smaller pieces, for example.
"Each week I pick up a page lead from Twitter. You do have to be interested in it [Twitter]. I would encourage every regional journalist to use it," said Raimes, who set up the paper's own Twitter account while on a work experience placement.
She is open with followers about her role as a journalist and while she is not always asking for stories, her followers do want to talk about what is going on in their area, she said.
Raimes said she will always try to respond to messages sent to her and that the service is great for feedback on her work as well as news tips.
All regional journalists can benefit from hearing directly from readers, and social media offers a new outlet for this, she added.
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
