Club strengthens social-media presence with live Tweeting of events

The National Press Club has increased its number of Twitter followers from 9,000 to more than 12,000 over the last seven months, making substantial progress on one of the Club's highest priorities in 2015 -- strengthening its social-media presence.

Live Tweeting of events has enabled the Club to become more prominent in the Twittersphere.

“Social media has exploded,” said Club President John Hughes. “It’s where the action is in terms of communicating with the world.”

When he began his presidential term last January, Hughes enlisted the help of some social media-savvy Club members, such as Molly McCluskey, who began to live tweet luncheons and Newsmakers — an unprecedented move for the Club.

“We were getting retweeted, and Twitter was lighting up during our lunches,” Hughes said.

On Dec. 4, the Club used social media to condemn Iran’s detention of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian.

Club members Tweeted throughout the day photographs of a Club initiative featuring members publicly reading Rezaian’s articles. The Tweets included #FreeJason to raise the visibility of Rezaian's plight.

Club board member Evan McMorris-Santoro, who works as a White House correspondent for Buzzfeed, emphasized the importance of using social media to stay current and competitive in journalism.

“Social media is one the most important ways to communicate in the journalism and professional world,” McMorris-Santoro said. “Thousands of reporters are staring at Twitter all day long, and there’s no better way to communicate what’s going on at the Club than though an active and innovative use of these tools.”

McMorris-Santoro said that the Club has been very fortunate this year because it has made huge strides in its social media use, something he largely attributes to McCluskey.

“We’re trying to get more followers [in order] to be more influential,” McMorris-Santoro said. “It reflects upon what kind of impact we’re having in our respective industries that we are a part of, and it impacts how a part of the D.C. conversation we are.”

McCluskey and her team, a subcommittee of the Club's Broadcast Committee, coined #NPCLive, which members can now use at any live event the Club hosts. This way, others in attendance or at home can view what everyone is tweeting about a particular event.

“We got an incredible response,” Hughes said. “And it made the Press Club much more real time-focused and tangible, because everyone’s on Twitter.”



Former Club President Mark Hamrick, chair of the Broadcast Committee, said that the Club's online engagement this year has been a tremendous success.

Engaging on Twitter is “something everybody — people at all levels of leadership at the Club — have been trying to do,” Hamrick said. “Optimizing the Club’s social media presence has largely fallen on members to do that.”

This year, Hamrick said he's been impressed by McCluskey’s ambition and determination to almost single-handedly boost the Club’s profile online.

Hughes and McCluskey’s (unofficial) team has created a network of what they call “trusted Tweeters” — Club members who are or have been in positions of responsibility.

This group has helped steer the Club’s Twitter handle, ensuring that the Club Tweets objectively and responsibly. Overall, Hughes said he is very impressed with the tone the "trusted Tweeters" have set.

Because the Club is volunteer-based, the greatest challenge remains finding members who are willing to chip in and lend their time and services.

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t be up to 50,000 or more Twitter followers, because there’s so much happening there,” Hamrick said.

It’s a blessing and a curse to have so many engaging events at the Club every day, Hughes said. Many of them merit social media coverage, but there isn’t always someone to cover every live event.

Hamrick encourages members who are enthusiastic about Tweeting to reach out to Hughes if they are interested in helping to drive the conversation during high-profile events.


McMorris-Santoro has high hopes for the future of the Club’s integration of social media into its activities.

“I hope in the next year, we're going to double our efforts to increase our social media use and increase those numbers,” McMorris-Santoro said.