This Just In…
Like it or not, Twitter is now a news medium
September 10, 2010
Twitter has become a news medium unto itself. Despite its flaws, the micro-blogging site is an increasingly powerful publishing tool that anyone, journalists and non-journalists alike, can use to broadcast news to hundreds or even thousands of people. As Matthew Ingram writes at GigaOM blog, recent examples of Twitter as a news platform include the hostage-taking and shootout at Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland, reports of which are said to have appeared on Twitter before reaching mainstream outlets.
Last week, accounts of the earthquake near New Zealand reportedly flooded Twitter before most mainstream media outlets were even aware that the event had occurred.
Earlier this year, researchers found that Twitter is more of a news medium than a social network. Granted, the site’s 140-character, user-generated messages can’t thoroughly cover a complex event like an earthquake or a shooting, and hoaxes are common on the site. But with Twitter the audience now has tools to become part of the media, NYU journalism professor and PressThink blogger Jay Rosen said, “and that is changing our society in ways that we are only beginning to appreciate.” — Greg Beaubien
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