I used to be the biggest sceptic of Twitter. Mainly because I didn’t get it, but also because I had never tried it and the idea of people ‘tweeting’ their heart and soul in 75 characters or less seemed a little bit silly.
But, in the last month I have become quite obsessed with it and I have to say it has become an integral part of my day. Having the app on my phone, it is a constant source of information for me from news, events, gossip, recipes and the list goes on.
Yet from a journalistic point of view, I still don’t understand why it is seen as such a threat?
Yes there are some people on Twitter who may hinder the news gathering process, but just don’t follow them.
The strength of this platform is that you seek out who you, and others deem to be credible. Just like journo’s back in the day who had a little black book of credible sources, it’s all about building a network.
When social media like Twitter is embraced by journalists, and used correctly and with care, than its use for news gathering processes is almost unlimited right?
This being said, every system has its flaws and the somewhat lack of accountability for Twitter users is probably the biggest down fall of the network itself.
You can post anything and it doesn’t have to be true.
Take the recent case in Mexico where two twitter users are now facing thirty years in jail after they wrongly reported an armed attack on a local school.
The full story can be read here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/06/us-mexico-twitter-idUSTRE7857PN20110906
Still, in regards to the news gathering process any good journalist will be critical of their sources, and in the case of twitter it’s not so much who you know, but who you follow.
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