Interesting analysis on Poynter of the language used to share information on Twitter, especially by individuals who are not members of the press.

As media technologies are widely adopted, so too is the related terminology. It’s a logical progression, but it’s also a source of confusion. That was the case during last year’s Arab Spring. NPR senior strategist and famed Arab Spring tweeter Andy Carvin raised this point when I asked what makes him suspicious of a tweet. For him, the adoption of journalistic terms (or cliches) by a non-journalist can be a red flag.

Just as journalists are being pushed to engage more with the public and work collaboratively, citizens are being pulled towards our sphere as they engage and adopt tools and technologies that offer them the ability to report and share news.

The forces pushing and pulling us together naturally cause us each to adopt from one other. But the public’s understanding of these terms can be different from a journalist’s understanding of them. What we need is a shared vocabulary that can create better understanding and imbue short messages such as tweets with more clarity.