The use of twiiter for news dissemination by media outfits_ A study of The Vanguard

The twitter handle of Vanguard Newspaper Nigeria does not only enables interactive between the news medium and the citizens but also promote stories on the newspaper site which is www.vanguardngr.com for interested readers. For the Gubernatorial and State House of Assembly held on the 11th of April, 2015, the Vanguard Newspaper employs various twitter features to reveal events as they happen to their followers.

As a follower of the Vanguard Newspaper on twitter, you will automatically receive newsfeed on your home page as being post. Twitter users do know that to update your status, they are only allow to use limited characters. This make Vanguard to write Headlines of News item allowing anybody to view Summary or a click on such tweet which has been embedded as a link to the page of the story on Vanguard Newspaper site. For example the article on Buhari’s promise about rescuing the kidnapped Chiboks girls https://twitter.com/vanguardngrnews/status/587974898309468161 , APC asks INEC to cancel Governorship/House Of Assembly Elections In...

Being text of the press conference addressed by the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Monday, April 13th, 2015 Good afternoon and Vanguard Newspapers ‏@vanguardngrnews Apr 13

INEC declares Imo governorship election inconclusive - Vanguard News http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/inec-declares-imo-governorship-election-inconclusive/ … via @vanguardngrnews

In the morning of the election in various states, voters were advice to tweet on happening in their polling unit such as INEC official punctuality and conduct, Voters turn-out and other events using @vanguardngrnews to report the event. For example, John Uffort ‏@djuffort Apr 13

@vanguardngrnews this kind God oooo I never see your type oooo hahahaha make Amechi go sleep!

0 retweets 0 favorites
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Also, the twitter features of retweet, favourite, comment and more allows followers of The Vanguard Newspaper account to retweet choice story on their homepage, favourite the story for easy locating, comment on the story for interactivity and use the more icon to either share via direct message; copy link to tweet; embed tweet, mute tweet; block tweet or report tweet. For better understanding consider this:

Tweets	Following	Followers
172K	167	659K

Vanguard NewspapersVerified account

@vanguardngrnews
Latest news from Nigeria. Politics, business, technology, style, entertainment.
Nigeria · vanguardngr.com

1. Vanguard Newspapers ‏@vanguardngrnews 42m42 minutes ago

Supreme court has vindicated me, EkitiGate is a sham — Obanikoro http://www.vanguardngr.com/?p=509368  pic.twitter.com/1CrzMaDSHR

Details

2. Vanguard Newspapers ‏@vanguardngrnews 1h1 hour ago

Amaechi replies Obanikoro: I will not congratulate Wike, it's daylight robbery http://www.vanguardngr.com/?p=509366  pic.twitter.com/

The use of photos and videos which were link to The Vanguard website also allow users to enjoy the news story and give it credibility.