Steven I. Weiss

Hey #journalists , I just made up a hashtag for when you're looking for a source on here: #sourcesiren .

I've never come across a hashtag for this purpose before, but if it catches on, it could be a way to tap into the very wide array of expertise #onhere .

So give it a shot when you're looking for sources: #sourcesiren

We can do it.

#makefetchhappen

Nov 7, 2022 at 4:07pmWeb
Show threadJennifer MendelsohnNov 7, 2022
@siw Remember the old HARO?
Show threadSteven I. WeissNov 7, 2022
@jmendelsohn I never tried it. Was it good?
Show threadMichael PetchNov 7, 2022

@jmendelsohn @siw I remember haro, and #JournoRequest

I wouldn't use them myself due to the niche I cover, but saying that even some of the "specialist" source services would rarely yield actionable results.

Show threadKenny JohnsonNov 7, 2022
@siw for accessibility, you might want to capitalize each word #SourceSiren
Show threadWiredfire Nov 7, 2022
@siw
I’m out of the loop - what is “Fetch” in the context of this tag? Seen it from some similarly sane folk Birdsite-side too but I’m not close enough to know the goings on 😅
Show threadSteven I. WeissNov 7, 2022
@wiredfire it's a reference to the movie "Mean Girls"
Show threadWiredfire Nov 8, 2022
@siw ah, ok cool a swift search on that helped it all make sense. Thanks!
Show threadgturpinNov 7, 2022
@siw Sounds like HARO in the early days, before turned into a website and was eventually bought by Cision. Good luck!
Show threadJeri DanskyNov 7, 2022
@siw Better yet, make it #SourceSiren (and #MakeFetchHappen); the camel case allows screen readers to parse the words rather than just reading out s-o-u-r-c-e-s-i-r-e-n.
Show threadEric BensonNov 7, 2022
@siw Keep in mind that this platform does not have a secure DM service, so you should arrange for communications on a separate end-to-end encrypted channel.
Show threadBCAlexMomNov 7, 2022
@siw that’s so fetch!
Show threadRob PriceNov 7, 2022
@siw Do you think people will adopt it versus the more traditional #journorequest? It'll be hard to get the critical mass/longevity without some kind of publicity
Show threadSteven I. WeissNov 7, 2022

@robaeprice My frank assumption would be that most of the time, neither would work, as you'd really get help from folks paying attention to their specialties, and plugging those specialties would be the more fruitful path.

But you never know.

Show threadGidgetNov 8, 2022
@siw I read earlier here that it's recommended to use #CamelCase for hashtags for #Accessibility readers. Cool idea! (And I LOLed at #MakeFetchHappen.)