• Journalism.org, Monday, November 14, 2011 3:39 PM

While news outlets vary widely in the number of feeds they offer -- and tweets they produce -- Twitter has become a standard distribution system for the entire industry. On average, news organizations offer 41 different organizational feeds, according to a study of 13 major news organizations by Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism and The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs.

The research, which examined more than 3,600 tweets over the course of a week, revealed that these news organizations use Twitter in limited ways--primarily as an added means to disseminate their own material. The sharing of outside content, as well as engagement with followers, is rare. Also, the news content typically posted closely matches the news events given priority on the news organizations’ other platforms.

At the top of the list, The Washington Post boasts 98 feeds -- more than twice the industry average, the research found. The Daily Caller, meanwhile, offered a single Twitter feed. The level of activity also ranged widely, according to the research. While as a group the outlets in the sample averaged 33 tweets a day on their main organizational Twitter feed, that number ranged from close to 100 a day to fewer than 10.

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