Our respects to a great statesman, father, husband, war hero, and public servant. You will be missed, George H. W. Bush. May you rest in peace.
The Future of Breaking News Using Twitter and Social Media
I don’t own a TV so I get most of my breaking news from Twitter and CNN.com. Not owning a TV is a little weird I know, but I would never get anything accomplished because I’m such an information junkie and I have a little issue with doing things that don’t feel productive. That’s why Twitter is amazing! I can get my information fix quickly when I receive updates from CNN on my Twitter feed without the obsessive need I have when watching TV to switch from news channel to news channel. If I’m interested in the news that CNN has posted, I can click the link in the feed and read the article on CNN.com. Then if it’s major news I can go back to Twitter and read the posts from all my Twitter friends (Tweeps) on what they are thinking.
Yesterday was a little different though, because the first news I heard about the US Airways plane crash in the Hudson came from a friend who tweeted the news as soon as they heard it. I immediately went to CNN.com to see what was up, but they didn’t have any real information up yet. So to find out more I went to search.twitter.com and typed in “plane” and “hudson” and found a ton of information that kept me pretty busy. Had I searched even harder I might have found this tweet from jkrums:
This is amazing picture that he took from his phone http://twitpic.com/135xa of the plane crash up close.
Janis Krums was the first reporter on the scene of this miraculous event. CNN definitely did not have such a close up and personal shot! As the day continued, updates to search.twitter.com kept refreshing and the response from those on Twitter who had seen the plane crash or just those who were tweeting the news as they heard it poured into Twitter. I watched Twitter and went to CNN for confirmation of the chatter I was observing online.
It seems like no one really has an idea of how Twitter and micro-blogging will be used in the future, but it is quite obvious that this innovation is extremely powerful. The information we receive from Twitter and other social media sites is in real time, authentic and interactive. Unlike in the news world, there is no time for spin; the news is true and verifiable on the spot. The opportunity for using social media as a medium for improving the world around us is already happening and I hope that we will continue to see social media as a tool for “doing good.” Business will have no choice but to become transparent and candid about who they are and what they are doing.
It’s quite exciting to be a part of this innovative culture of social media and to really realize that our hard work and passion truly does have a future!