Letter from the editor: Breaking Tweets turns six months old

Posted by Craig Kanalley on 7/31/09 • Categorized as Technology

On Jan. 31, 2009, a post about Serena Williams’ victory in the Australian Open with three Aussie tweets began an incredible journey, an unexpected ride I could have never imagined.

Six months later, the journey continues.

The idea for Breaking Tweets was born when I attended and tweeted from Barack Obama’s Inauguration in Washington, D.C. on January 20. I thought, why not collect tweets for major events around the world?

Originally, Breaking Tweets was to be nothing more than a personal blog, telling a few major stories around the world every day through the use of Twitter.

It blossomed into something so much more.

It’s been 750 posts, 6,000 featured tweets, and 150,000 unique visitors (320,000 pageviews) from 194 countries since then — and more than 100 news organizations around the world have visited the site since it began, including Reuters, Associated Press, BBC, CNN, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times — but none of this has gone to my head.

That’s because the success of the site is not about me — the real success is in the relationships it’s fostered, the connectivity it’s promoted across the globe, and the knowledge it’s provided to people simply wanting information. Just being able to play a small role in facilitating that and help others is far more gratifying than personal gain.

I’d like to thank all those who have helped with the site, relied on it for info, and collaborated on Twitter. I’m grateful for every person who has ever had a tweet appear, every user who has submitted a tip or TwitPic, every smile or laugh it’s brought to somebody, and every light bulb it’s ignited as the media presses on toward determining Twitter applications in journalism and the industry’s future.

Here’s a look back at some of the milestone days, followed by a brief synopsis on what’s next.

Feb. 7: BREAKOUT STORY: “Madagascar protest turns deadly” – reports from the ground lead to the first breakout day for Breaking Tweets, bringing hundreds of visits from Madagascar, France, and elsewhere worldwide and providing information at a time of need. This story made me first realize the potential for the site as something more than just a personal blog.

Feb. 25: BIG STORY: “Amsterdam plane crash” – The first to bring more than 3,000 unique visits and dozens of links across overseas forums, blogs, online sites, and Twitter.

Feb. 25: ALLTOP: Guy Kawasaki and the rest of the folks at Alltop create a Breaking Tweets page with RSS feeds for all of our regions and topics: http://breaking-tweets.alltop.com.

March 2: TWITTER GROWTH: The @BreakingTweets Twitter page reaches 1,000 followers.

April 5: SITE LAUNCH: 1st niche affiliate site Breaking Tweets Sports is founded.

April 20: SITE LAUNCH: 2nd niche affiliate site Breaking Tweets Entertainment is founded.

April 26: TWITTER GROWTH: The @BreakingTweets Twitter page reaches 4,000 followers.

April 30: BIG STORY: An apparent attack on the Queen of Holland becomes Breaking Tweets’ new top story of all-time with 9,000 unique hits. It’s also posted well before BBC and CNN, our first major scoop.

April 30: FEATURED: Poynter Online features Breaking Tweets, saying it “brings organization to the multitude of Tweets.”

May 18: ENDORSEMENT: Homer Simpson (@homersimpson), says, “There’s only one place I get my news from on Twitter – @breakingtweets”

May 28: BIG STORY: “Strong earthquake jolts Honduras, Belize, Guatemala” generates more than 13,000 unique hits to overthrow the Dutch Queen story as the top story of all-time.

June 4: FEATURED: Journalism.co.uk says Breaking Tweets “personalizes the news using Twitter.”

June 9: ENDORSEMENT: Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk), “King of Twitter,” writes in a tweet, “I dig the breaking tweets site.”

June 12: IRAN COVERAGE: We begin relentless coverage of the Iran Election, with six hours of live blogging (live tweets from Iran) on Election Night. Daily posts about Iran continued for two weeks.

June 23: SITE LAUNCH: A third niche affiliate site launches, the first hyperlocal version, Breaking Tweets Chicago.

June 24: FEATURED: Breaking Tweets is featured on Poynter Online for its Iran coverage.

June 25: BLOCKED IN IRAN: BreakingTweets.com is banned in Iran. I figured this out because traffic from Iran stopped entirely, except for its Foreign Ministry Affairs.

July 14: TWITTER GROWTH: The @BreakingTweets Twitter page reaches 9,000 followers.

July 16: BIG STORY: “Twitter user reports from the scene of Jakarta explosion” is top story of the month with more than 3,000 hits and 89 retweets.

What’s next?

Hard to say. The biggest problem is I’ve yet to find a good way to monetize the site. While I’d like it to be a 24/7 news operation with an actual staff, and a viable independent news source, instead it remains secondary to actual jobs for myself and many other contributors. Though there are ways you can help by supporting the site.

I do vow to continue the site though. And I’ll post when I can.

One goal for down the road is an increased real-time element, some use of the Twitter API, but I’m not sure what that is just yet. If the site begins to make money, I’d be interested in investing in Web development to take it to the next step. Currently, related tweets in real-time are at the bottom of each story, but I feel it can go a step further in time.

Also, the hyperlocal Chicago version is doing well, and many have expressed interest in other local sites. I’m looking into the possibility of New York and Los Angeles versions, or statewide New York and California hubs to include more cities. Expansion like this, possibly to other niche areas like health or travel, is the logical next step for BT, but there’s no clear timeline for these new sites at this time. Please contact me if you might be interested in any of these endeavors.

And that’s where the site is at. Here’s to the next six months!