Journalists often are the first to break stories and distribute their content online.

If you ask any top journalist, you’ll probably find that Twitter is an important part of their news-breaking arsenal.

Studies show that news is shared on Twitter before other social media channels—including Facebook—and often before many TV and radio news networks. Without the right Twitter tools, it’s easy to get lost in the noise and miss opportunities amid the platform’s vast pool of activity.

Here are some popular tools that many journalists swear by, along with how you can use them to gather news, break stories and benefit your clients.

Twitter lists

Want to check in with your online community without becoming overwhelmed by tons of stories on your feed?

Similar to journalists, PR pros want to follow developing stories online—often about a specific industry, event or location. Lists can help you efficiently flip between your clients’ personalized feeds and your own.

For many reporters, Twitter lists are a solid source of information. They can be created as “public lists,” too, and help draw attention to your brand.

Twilert

A Twitter search is one of the best ways to find noteworthy tweets.

You can program Twilert to save your searches and send email alerts if there’s a new development in something you’re interested in. This ensures you’re first on the scene if industry news breaks or a crisis strikes.

The emails will include keywords, hashtags and handles relevant to your search history, collated into one feed.

Twitter’s search operators (which you can use within both Twitter and Twilert) are a great way to filter among users, links, keywords and popular updates. The more you use them, the more beneficial they will be to how you filter tweets.

Content marketer

Finding the right sources online can be tricky. Even when a reporter has a source’s name, the Twitter handle or email address might be unavailable.

Content Marketer can help. This tool helps journalists scan through blog posts and find the Twitter accounts or email addresses of anyone mentioned. It has a search and collate function that finds influencers within a specific area.

When it comes to identifying leads or finding an expert to comment on a feature, Content Marketer can take Twitter leads and dig out contact details. That saves time and improves your efficiency.

Sniply

If journalists can share content on Twitter to build their brand and gain followers, PR pros can, too.

Use Sniply to create a custom link that attaches to any URL you share. This will direct the reader back to a website or article of your choosing.

That tool gives you more exposure and directs traffic back to your or your client’s site.

Riffle

Once installed, click the icon next to any Twitter user, and it will instantly tell you their follower count, most-used hashtags, most shared links and connected profiles.

Skip the small talk and create more meaningful interactions without having to scroll through tons of tweets and data. Once it’s installed, you can use Riffle with Twitter clients such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Twilert.

Journalism and PR are continually intersecting. Nowadays, many journalists are becoming brand experts, and many PR pros are emerging as excellent storytellers. We should learn from one another.