Last night I had my first real experience of social media breaking an international news story.
News of the unexpected death of Michael Jackson reached me while I was working online and having a conversation on Twitter about what type of dog @ellaannounce should buy (general consensus seemed to be cocker spaniel).
I caught sight of a follower over in the US tweeting a news report of MJ’s admission to hospital. From then on Twitter lit up with speculation, denials, and snippets of information as cyberspace discussed the news.
I turned to the Twitter trend topics for the latest information and eventually the news reports began to filter through that Michael Jackson was confirmed dead.
A tragedy for his family, friends and the fans who were so much looking forward to his concerts in just a few weeks time. But the geek in me marveled at the step change from when I used to get excited about news reports appearing first on websites such as CNN, BBC etc ahead of the traditional TV and Radio to the immediacy of Twitter.
Leaving aside the obvious room for hoaxes (and many Twitterers refused to believe the news at first) I got a real sense of individuals able to bypass those that tell us the news to speak for themselves. Just as celebrities are using Twitter to have a direct dialogue I expect that over the coming months more and more news stories will appear on Twitter first, and with those affected being the ones to break the news themselves.
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