Journalism genres in Twitter’s visual formats: a proposal for classification

Abstract

This paper analyses the journalistic genres in the visual formats that the media use to distribute content in Twitter. Four visual formats are studied: graphic representations, videos, GIF and infographics. The evolution of online journalistic genres is discussed, including the use of Twitter as a channel for distributing news content. For selecting our sample of study, Twitter accounts from the following media were chosen: a) media included in the Index of Journalism Innovation 2014; b) relevant media for its number of Twitter followers, and c) international media recognized by their relevance in Twitter. Thus, 48 Twitter accounts were selected and followed randomly during twelve weeks. The analysis of the results allows establishing a proposal that intends to differentiate the various journalistic genres in the formats object of study. A high degree of experimentation and hybridization is observed in the visual formats developed by the media in Twitter.