I will soon begin teaching my annual module in Online Journalism and one of the first things I get the students to do is set up a Twitter account. It’s often a struggle to demonstrate the usefulness of Twitter, so this time around, in addition to following each other, I’m going to give them 10 people to start following from the off. This is the list I’ve come up with - would welcome your suggestions for others:

1. @davelee - former journalism student and excellent blogger who landed a plum job at the BBC after graduating. Get the point?


2. @channel4news - example of how a news organisation can use Twitter in a personal, conversational way, rather than simply republishing its RSS feed (see also: @r4news)


3. @jemimakiss - likewise, example of a journalist using Twitter to involve readers in production, as well as just be a ‘real person’


4. @jayrosen_nyu - journalism professor at New York University with excellent links and analysis on the news industry and online journalism (see also: @jeffjarvis)


5. @digidickinson - Andy Dickinson, UK journalism lecturer and online video speciali