a headstart in the newsy business.
October 31, 2009
I’ve been wanting to raise this issue for a really long time after I noticed a trend that news publications were reporting on news that were previously listed on the Twitter trending topics. The thing is, Twitter got the news first. Shock horror shock? Not really because times are really changing and the world is really living up to its 21st century title.
What started out, possibly, on a personal level has evolved into a news source. The news of the Mumbai bombings were tweeted from various people hours before the news crew got to hear of it. And some of these Twitter citizens were actually at the scene. The way I interpret this is simple – citizen journalism. A journalist used to be someone who worked for a news station and is formally employed for the role. But the recent trends in online social media and digital publishing have since thwarted the definition a little such that now a journalist is anyone who can report on an incident via whichever medium.
The fact is, the people who tweet are everywhere, and sometimes there before the news crew gets in. Things are made easier with a mobile phone and a short text – the world will now know what happened at ground zero. Short and sweet updates are being made easily accessible too.
Some have brought up the point that the credibility of the information is questionable. Yes, I admit there have been instances where wrong information have been reported on – bringing back the case of the Mumbai bombings where earlier reports on Twitter misled readers to think that the Marriott Hotel in Mumbai was bombed where in actual case, it was the hotel next to the Marriott.
However, studies on trending topics have shown that wrong information is quickly corrected and piped down with the accurate ones.
On a frivolous note, RIP Kanye made it to the trending topics before. And no, he isn’t dead. (Unfortunately) Yo Kanye, I’m real happy for you and I’mma let you finish but #musicmonday is the greatest trending topic of all time!
But that’s a story for another day.
Trending topics are fascinating, they are like viral topics being disseminated to millions at a go. Websites like http://www.whatthetrend.com/ have been created to explain each of the trending topic in detail and why it made it to the list. Reading the short synopsis behind the reason for the word’s emergence is already acting like a short news snippet!
The Straits Times (ST) have set up a Twitter account to tweet snippets of information to readers. I must say the choice of news they pick to be tweeted is always extremely novel and fresh. And I admire the way they can summarise a whole article into 140 words, and that includes the link.
I’m not sure if ST depends on Twitter trending topics for news or not, but I personally have witness the fact that ST reported the exact same news that made it into the trending topics on Twitter! It was quite a classic moment because yes, it was then when I started noticing this trend myself. (I used to be a Twitter non-believer previously.)
All in all, the way we are getting news is changing. And I reckon that one day the professional journalist would have to take the backseat and with us, citizens, leading the way for them.
A snippet from Tech Crunch’s blog:
‘What matters isn’t any individual Twitter message and whether it’s right or wrong. It’s the organism as a whole, the aggregate, that lets people stream what they’re witnessing in real time to the world. That aggregate stream gives us more information, faster, than anything before. It’s news, and it’s incredibly valuable.’
Indeed.
Have a great weekend. It’s Halloween, and guess what? Yes, it’s already a trending topic since yesterday.
Sources:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/29/so-much-for-twitters-trending-topics-to-indicate-breaking-news/
http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/11/26/yes-twitter-is-a-source-of-journalism/
