Following the siege in Mumbai which brought the Twitter and its usage by citizens to share and spread information into the limelight, media publications including Mint and DNA have signed up for Twitter. While media publications on Twitter are not new - New York Times, Wired, The Economist and the Wall Street Journal have their own twitter feeds. What's interesting is the difference in the approach being adopted by Mint and DNA: 1. News Feeds On Twitter Mint, much like Web18 publications - IBNLive and CricketNext, is simply pushing news on the Net. This is what I call a "Newsletter Approach" to content distribution, much like WAP links pushed via SMS on the mobile. The publications are trying to reach the users wherever they are present - whether on Twitter, Instant Messenger, Mobile (SMS), and solicit traffic for their websites. They're probably using scripts for automated updates via the RSS feeds, and not really selecting the content. Why it works: Viewing news is an impulse decision, and the headlines trigger curiousity for more information. For example: I followed the India-England One Day International Cricket series via CricketNext's feeds on Twitter. Occasionally, I clicked through for more information. Prior to this, I rarely visited CricketNext - I've always preferred Cricinfo's content and coverage. 2. A Personal Touch The background image of the DNA on Twitter says it straight - "Our stories have no links attached, we believe that some stories are better said in 140 chrs". Thus, unlike in case of the news feeds,…
