News

Darío Gallo: “Twitter is the new news agency”

December 2, 2013
One of the pioneers of blogging and Twitter in Argentina spoke with In situ about how social media and the internet have changed the way news is reported. Darío Gallo, editor-in-chief of Clarín’s website, suggested rewriting headlines to suit the platform on which they are published and observing how the public reacts, which often leads to new content.

Back in 2007, when people first started hearing about a social media platform called Twitter, some Argentine journalists wanted to see what it was all about. Darío Gallo was one of those journalists. “We realized that it had tremendous potential and could be a great tool for our profession.” At that time, there were only about 350 Argentines on Twitter.

Today, Gallo asserts that Twitter is a highly effective tool for journalism, thanks to its speed and the interaction among users. “It’s a kind of all-purpose tool: it allows you to promote topics, disseminate information, and test stories. Twitter is the new news agency,” he said in a conversation with In situ.

Regarding blogs—an area where he was also a pioneer—he commented that “they have lost a lot of influence, precisely because of social media.” However, he said that if he had to give advice to a journalism student, he would recommend that “the first thing they should do is start a blog and try to publish as many articles, audio clips, videos—whatever—as possible, because that’s the only way they can showcase themselves to those who might become their future employers.”

https://youtu.be/04qJWtiKJLw?si=pEIPiG7BmyaJ_69x