Twitter as EWS

Recently we've seen a major change in the way people are getting the news. Twenty-four hour News has become the dinosaur of the information age. Two major events, one of politics, the other of the entertainment world has really made an impression on me, and apparently a lot of other people.

When the news broke that there was going to be protests in Iran over the recent national elections, most of the major news outlets had been kicked out of the country. The information got delivered to us via Twitter and YouTube. The #iranelection topic in Twitter quickly rose to the number one trending topic and remained so for days as people outside of Iran wanted to know what was going on, and people in Iran tried to communicate with each other.

Out of curiosity I turned on CNN to see what they were reporting and was astonished to see CNN reporters literally reading Twitter posts directly on the air. What value are they bringing if we can read the Twitter accounts directly? What is the place of a news service like AP if they are reporting everything hours after it is already being posted on Twitter?

The second event of course was the shocking news of the passing of King of Pop, Michael Jackson. I admit this was one that I first read on Twitter myself. I was so astonished, I was one of the people who retweeted the story before it was confirmed. For awhile I thought perhaps it was a big mistake. Then as the news was confirmed I realized that the social media network had scooped the big News channels again. And on a story that would typically have had millions of viewers glued to their TV. However, nobody was watching TV. They were reading Twitter, posting blogs and watching MJ's old video's on YouTube. I think these are the events that moved Social Media to the forefront of how most of us get our news.

And the big corporations and celebrities have noticed. Today if Shaq O'neal wants to say something to his fans he doesn't hold a press conference, he tweets. Pop celebs have found that they can avoid the big media filter by speaking directly with their fans. It's a PR agents nightmare, but a fans dream. I get the news directly from my favorite stars, and I can pass it along to my friends almost as if I had been told personally to pass it on.

Interaction at the most personal level, made global. Big corporations can spend a few cents tweeting about a new product, or a special offer. They reach thousands and perhaps millions of followers for a tiny fraction of what they would have to pay for a major media outlet. Even better, their followers are asking for the information. They don't have to wonder how many people were going to the bathroom during their multi-million dollar Super Bowl commercial.

And the communication isn't one way. A cola maker can watch the Twitter-verse trending topics and see how people are reacting to their latest marketing offer. If people are complaining about a cable company's customer service, the company can find out about it much faster than waiting for the next customer satisfaction survey results from their marketing firm. Global results, instantaneously.

Twitter sells itself as a "way to inform your friends of what you are doing at any time." However, that isn't what people are using Twitter for. It's the news media of tomorrow. Instead of hearing what happened today on the 11o'clock News, you find out what is happening right now on Twitter.

Twitter is the new Early Warning System. Instantaneous, global information that effects you, without waiting.

All the twenty four hour news channels can do now is sit and read Twitter over the air. About like reading news from a Teletype but instead of a few news services, it is from millions of citizen reporters.

There is a downside of course. Rumors travel just as fast as news. The problem facing us in the future will be knowing what is truth, and what is snake oil. Perhaps that is the only real value the major news outlets will hold for us.