Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Traveller_Adventure — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:03:04 -0000

Great post, really help me alot. Thanks.

Cheers,
Buat Duit Dengan Blog

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Atle Brunvoll — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:17:20 -0000

My experience during the Mumbai terror night was that twitter was no reliable source for news, but it was an excellent source for LINKS to relevant news.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

mathewi — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:52:50 -0000

That's an excellent point, John. I recall after the earthquakes and forest fires in California, a group of researchers looked at Twitter and Facebook and other social media as tools for getting information out (location of fires, etc.) and found that they were far better than either emergency services or the traditional media.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

sheajohnp — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:33:44 -0000

I think an interesting dimension to the citizen journalism factor is how the information can be used to feed first responders and emergency managers. The response community relies on verified information and does a pretty good job developing situational awareness based on its trusted partners. The value of immediate and localized data has been recognized through integration of amateur radio in the emergency operations centers in many communities. Web-based data tied to GIS provided by the citizenry can be integrated as well with maturity of the system and understanding of its applications. I believe the tools and culture/protocols will develop well enough that citizens caught in emergencies and disasters can be trusted information participants.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

antje wilsch — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:12:05 -0000

So Twitter is like the water cooler of the world!

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

davidfeldt — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:31:18 -0000

I think there is room for both "traditional" journalism and citizen journalism to co-exist and intertwine. Read my blog post about the success of social networks / social media during the recent tragic Mumbai attacks: http://cli.gs/puWAsX

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

DwriteN — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:04:09 -0000

Mathew - Thanks for the good discussion topic! I agree heartily that even TV news coverage has incorrect information; for example, colleagues and I were discussing just the other day how a news anchor kept getting uncorroborated information when President Reagan was shot back in the day and at one point refused to keep reading it because it changed every time new information came across his desk!

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

mathewi — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:45:28 -0000

Thanks, Brandon. I appreciate that.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Brandon J. Mendelson — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:23:31 -0000

Hi Matthew,

This was a thoughtful and intelligent roundup concerning the use of Twitter among the journalist set, which includes myself. Many in the profession are still struggling to pickup Twitter, but it is only a matter of time before they master the service and others duplicate.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Burnman — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:05:15 -0000

I don't think any particular news source should be used exclusively. I am a big believer in checking multiple sources for news about a particular story.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Burnman — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:58:47 -0000

@ Tom - Initial reports are most often inaccurate snapshots of what little is known about a story as it breaks. As the story unfolds, and more details are available, the initial reports are verified and updates to the initial reports are provided. This is exactly what happens when Twitter users break news. Initial reports come in, the details are later verified and followed up on.

Pick up 3 or 4 newspapers covering the same thing, and you will find 3 or 4 different sides to the same story. Each will contain details which conflict with the other papers, each will contain its own bias. Mainstream Media's track record for breaking news is no different than what I have seen so far with Twitter. In fact, the information I received via Twitter yesterday regarding Mumbai is as accurate as what I am seeing reported by Mainstream Media... today.

Twitter cannot possibly replace Mainstream Media's in-depth reporting, but it can do more for getting important news the attention it deserves much more quickly than calling a news desk at CNN or MSNBC will. Live reports by the people experiencing a situation will often be as accurate as hearing about it from reporters who asked the same people after it was all over.

Have you considered that perhaps these live reports that come out of Mumbai will HELP mainstream journalists with source material for more accurate reports about the attacks? Or have you considered how much more likely governments are to react to situations they may otherwise ignore simply because the story cannot be contained? Or perhaps, the likelihood that Mainstream Media will pick up a story because it's already out rather than ignore it for whatever political or financial reason they may have? Imagine how useful this wealth of information will be to investigators as they begin piecing this all together. Mainstream Media would not be able to provide the same level of documentation which live witnesses did.

Personally, I welcome Social Media to the world of journalism, and I look forward to watching the forced evolution of journalism it will bring.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Charles — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:46:21 -0000

Certainly it's true that the Twitter reports aren't verified. But if you watch any legitimate 24-hour news channel (even CNN), they're also guilty reporting unverified "facts" in the midst of breaking news events -- only to correct it later as more accurate reports come in.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

mathewi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:34:48 -0000

Thanks, Sree.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Sree Sreenivasan — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:11:13 -0000

As the South Asian Journalists Association, in addition to our blog - http://www.sajaforum.org - and Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/sreenet - we are using BlogtalkRadio.com to do a series of webcasts with journos and experts based in Mumbai and the U.S. We have been doing them every 12 hours since the attacks happened. You can see our archives and tune in live at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/saja

It's easy to use, is embeddable and the price is incredible: $0.

I *strongly* recommend journalists try out this technology...

FEEDBACK from journalist Robert Anthony:
"That was an excellent webcast. A perfect use of Web technology for breaking news. It
provided a world view superior than the repetitive reports coming in on [XXXXXX] right
now. The comments from the ground in Mumbai were downright scary and reflected how dangerous and unsettled things are at this point."

Happy to chat with anyone who wants to learn how they can use this in their work. And here's the BTR CEO's contact: Alan Levy <AlanLevy@blogtalkradio.com>

Sree / sree@sree.net

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

mathewi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:37:01 -0000

I think that's kind of a semantic difference, really -- an eye-witness report collection tool *is* a news source. Is it the only one you should use? No. But it's a good starting point.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

W. David Stephenson — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:28:00 -0000

The same holds true about information from Twitter,Flickr,Qik,YouTube, regarding "situational information" that might be valuable to authorities in responding to these events: some may be erroneous, some may even be malicious, generated by the perpetrators to sow confusion and misinformation.

However, I'm convinced, especially if authorities will finally come to grips with the reality that you and I are going to use the same mobile devices and Web 2.0 apps that we rely on in good times to share information in bad times, and will actually deign to tell us what kind of information might actually be helpful, that their positive role will actually increase.

For example, if something, God forbid, were planned during the US Inauguration, I'd feel a lot more confident if I knew that authorities had told people what might be valuable information, had set up dedicated channels for the public to submit cameraphone photos or videos (as NYC has done for 311 and 911 complaints), and, most important, were constantly monitoring all of these apps. Instead of 100,000 guards, you suddenly have 3-5 million. That might give the bad guys pause....

Meanwhile, in the absence of official guidance, I've created "21st-century disaster tips you WON'T hear from officials" about how to use Twitter, Flickr, Qik, etc. http://tinyurl.com/26zjsy

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

Blaise Alleyne — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:22:44 -0000

Seems like it just got a lot weaker as a source of news in Canada...

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

wiliam — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:12:22 -0000

Twitter can be used as a news service. However because this is done as a second thought it is not well organized as there is no systematic way to enter news so that it can be easily found and separated from the noise.
Because of this there is no easy and fast way to search for this information.

We have built have integrated a news posting service into our micro blog “Conversations” This ability to post news to the microblog is also integrated into our feed reader and both services post to twitter.
We you search on adelph.us for a news story you will receive results that are from both main stream media as well as from related micro blogs.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

whydowork — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:46:52 -0000

I can respect the use of twitter to signal smoke before the fire, but once it is burning it is far too incoherent to get the big picture.

Have you seen some of the comments on TC that reference this post? - "if it wasn’t for Twitter, I wouldn’t have heard about it at all!", I'd wager > 90% of the tweets on the topic following the break by the few that were actually there, we're people summarizing what they got from traditional news.

It is a valid eye-witness report collection tool, a "news source" a stretch in my opinion.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

ianbetteridge — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:13:16 -0000

Very true, Mathew. I think of Twitter for news as being like an "alarm call" - it tells me something is happening, at which point I'll go look for journalism about it.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

leigh — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:51:22 -0000

I find it funny that this old media vs. new media debate often ends up with many defending traditional news organizations as more credible in the territories of false reports, innuendo, and gossip. Any "real time" reporting situation will require 'after the fact' assessment and verification. That's whether it's Anderson Cooper blithering on CNN or someone in Mumbai twittering on twitter.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

mathewi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:43:13 -0000

Thanks for the comment, Dave.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

mathewi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:42:56 -0000

I think it's certainly part of the new information architecture, Tim. Thanks for the comment.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

mathewi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:42:17 -0000

Thanks, Abhishek.

Re: Yes, Twitter is a source of journalism

mathewi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:41:49 -0000

Thanks, Ian -- you are right that there is a distinction, but I still think it's better to look at it as a process. It starts with first-hand or second-hand reports, however they are delivered, and then those are aggregated and checked and interpreted and somewhere along the way it becomes journalism.