Local UK newspaper to use Twitter for live sport reporting
Wrexham-based newspaper The Evening Leader to experiment with the micro-blogging tool for live football match reports
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There used to be something here that couldn't be migrated - please contact us at info@journalism.co.uk if you'd like to see this updated! 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 .
Written by
Laura Oliver is a freelance journalist, a contributor to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, co-founder of The Society of Freelance Journalists and the former editor of Journalism.co.uk (prior to it becoming JournalismUK)
