Twitter Is A Breaking News Source

Posted on November 27th, 2008 by admin in Domain News | 1 Comment »

Doubters of Twitter’s potential as a breaking news source have once again been proven wrong in the aftermath of the horrible events unfolding in Mumbai, India over the last 24 hours.

Just like during the recent earthquakes in China, news of the event has spread via Twitter by eyewitness reports way before anything was distributed by mainstream media.

Although some may argue that Twitter is not a valid news source because eyewitness reports can be unverified and misleading – in my opinion their argument is the strongest argument against their own theories.

Eyewitness reports by definition are just that, eyewitness reports. It is nothing to do with Twitter or its validity as a news source. Mainstream media also use eyewitness reports which can turn out to be false and misleading and have done so in the past. The argument is void when pressed against the validity of Twitter as a news source.

From a fledgling microblogging platform this year has seen Twitter turn into a powerful breaking news source. Doubters will just have to live with it.

My condolences to all the people of Mumbai and the people who have lost loved ones as a result of the horrible events that have unfolded in the past 24 hours. We feel for you and love you in these testing times.