A social networking site or a news site? Both in fact. Twitter has revolutionised how people use the internet and obtain information. With the number of users rising by 1382% in just one year (Feb 08 – Feb 09) it makes perfect sense to use it as a medium for news.
Considering the sheer size of the ‘tweeting’ population news organisations can reach a huge audience and people are really catching onto the phenomenon. With the ability to link Twitter to sites like Facebook means that people need never miss a single piece of news if they so choose.
Twitter has moved from being about the user and their need to tell the world exactly what they are doing at any given moment in time in 140 characters or less. Instead, Twitter is allowing people to access what is happening anywhere in the world that interests them. If you want Irish news Twitter provides with the likes of The Irish Times or even more interestingly The Clare People and The Mayo News serving the local aspect of news. Well almost.
For the lighter side of news, Twitter also hosts tweets from E Entertainment and TMZ. The fact that you can choose exactly how you use you twitter is what makes it unique. Buying a newspaper you are buying all the sections…news, sport, entertainment, business, travel etc. Twitter is like taking a newspaper that caters only for what you want to know and find out about. Several cases have been made for Twitter claiming that it is an invaluable news source to find out what people are talking about and are interested in. For instance in this article, Twitter is hailed as extremely useful for sourcing news and also publicising. The way of the future perhaps.
And what do you know, Twitter makes news itself.
