Tweeting News

Twitter really came of age in the Mumbai terror attacks last November.

While journalists scrambled to get on the scene, the latest news poured in by the second via tweets from people inside the hotels and on the street, demonstrating the future of citizen journalism in 140 characters via Twitter.

Techcrunch featured an article on Twitter and the Mumbia Attacks where we learnt about the phenomenon of Twitter News, information reaching the online community long before any traditional newsroom. The Mumbai attacks proved that the cell phone is the most immediate tool for disseminating information and that new posted on Twitter will catch alight and spread in no time at all.

But as this other article about Twitter and Journalism pointed out, the great problem is to sort through all the information to find out what’s accurate and pertinent – many of the Tweets about the Mumbai attacks were plain wrong and misleading. But then, Too Much Information is the malady of our age, isn’t that what the internet is all about?

Twitter journalism is just part of that challenge.