Should Twitter be taught in J-School?

Alfred Hermida highlights an interesting question in his Reportr blog - should journalism students learn to use Twitter as part of their studies?

It's a question he says is under discussion at the World Journalism Education Congress being held in South Africa. Julie Posetti from the University of Canberra is one of the academics arguing for its inclusion. He shared this YouTube clip:



It's an interesting question to consider - it has clear benefits such as learning to drive traffic to your articles, or how to expose stories of interest (such as the Trafigura scandal) and identify story tip-offs, along with the potential dangers of doing so - surely then it's important to grasp the role of Twitter within your journalism career as soon as possible?

But the question arises that can this skill be taught? Or is it something you learn through trial and error?

To follow this and other discussions from the conference, you can follow its Twitter hashtag #WJEC2 or watch live feeds on the on the conference’s site.