Twitter has slowly but surely been sneaking its way into every aspect of our lives and TV news is no exception.

Some stations have started Twitter accounts for the newsroom or individual anchors and reporters, though it’s not always the actual person behind the posts.

Tools like HootSuite (which just came out with a new version) and CoTweet let multiple people manage the same Twitter account, meaning you won’t have to share a password with everyone in the newsroom and risk having your account exposed.

This is especially helpful if you’d like others in the newsroom to be able to tweet on behalf of a personality who may not be involved or you need multiple producers and reporters to be able to post updates to the general station feed.

These tools also allow staffers to sign their tweets. If you use this approach, consider using a background graphics to let users know who’s who, like KOMU-TV does.

Many news organizations are also running multiple Twitter accounts, breaking them into categories such as news, weather and sports. Some stations have also created Twitter accounts that focus on a specific big story, such as Orlando’s WFTV-TV’s Casey Anothony feed.

It’s also a good idea to actively engage your followers by replying to their tweets and comments and feedback. You can also use TwitPic or PollDaddy Twitter Polls to post photos and voting, respectively, to your feed.

Also take advantage of Twitter’s “@reply” feature to link to community organizations, people and other names in the news. This can also create a great sense of community and interaction. To make this easier, maintain a list of relevant usernames and distribute it to everyone who posts to Twitter (be warned, as Twitter continues to grow you’ll find yourself updating this frequently).

To promote your station’s involvement with Twitter, consider putting Twitter handles on staff members’ lower thirds, similar to how some stations are already inserting e-mail addresses there. The @username format has become very well known with tech-savvy people so labeling it as a Twitter username isn’t absolutely necessary if room doesn’t allow it. You can also promote Twitter usernames in opens, reopens, stingers or other promotional material, including on-air promos.

Even if your station doesn’t have immediate plans to Twitter, it may be a good idea to register at least your station’s call sign and other branding words to prevent them from being snapped up by someone else. If you’re planning to register multiple accounts, you’ll need a unique e-mail address for each account, so talk to your IT people about setting up aliases or if your system supports “plus addressing.”

NewscastTip is a weekly column with tips for your newscasts. See past editions here. The column is available every Friday in our e-mail newsletter and posted here the following Wednesday. Sign up for the newsletter to get it delivered directly to your in box every week.

Michael P. Hill is founder and publisher of NewscastStudio. Contact him with your own tips and feedback.