Gathering and managing relevant and up to date
information is one of the key competencies needed in political/security risk
analysis. With the advent of social media sites such as Twitter, the collection
and management of information is becoming easier by the day. Below, I describe
how to optimise your Twitter usage for gathering relevant breaking news. This
can be used for risk analysis purposes or any other job in which up to date global
regional or local news is required.
I have chosen to use HootSuite as a
platform for managing my social media sites, but there are many other choices
such as TweetDeck, Seesmic,
etc.
Process for using HootSuite to manage tweets
1. Sign up for account at http://hootsuite.com
2. Add you Twitter account and or other social media
accounts to Hootsuite
3. Go to my Twitter account's lists: https://twitter.com/Barendlutz/lists
4. Subscribe to the lists you want
5. Go to you Hootsuite Dashboard and add streams for the
lists you want to follow
* You can create your
own lists or find other lists that are more specific to your interests online,
my lists are just broad lists that I created by looking at what other people
are following on Twitter, but they will be updated as I find more useful Tweeps.
* If you are still
unsure about this process you can look at this
presentation for further clarification.
Other Useful tools.
In addition to
Hootsuite hare are a number of other sources that make online data more
manageable are:
1. Monitter
Monitor multiple keyword searches
from Twitter in real-time.
2. TwitterMap
You search for keywords and it shows you where tweets
containing those words come form on a map. (Search for words such as
fatalities, clashes, protests, strikes)
3. TrendsMap
This site shows you a global map of trending topics.
It gives a bit too much information I think, the one above is more useful.
4. Alchemy
API
Lastly there is a demo program which analyses news
articles and extracts the useful info. This is just a demo, but you can add a
web link and then it extracts all the details automatically. For example try adding this link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/60398/World/Region/Iraq-attacks-kill-seven,-inmate-detonates-explosiv.aspx
I am sure
that everyone has a specific methodology which they prefer for viewing and
collecting information. I have found that the method described above works well
for me, but if you have another method or comments/advice on mine, please feel
free to let me know.
