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More News That Twitter is Making News
August 3rd, 2008
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by Warren Whitlock · Filed Under: Twitter Stories · Twitteratti
Twitter influencing the world stories are becoming more common.
I foresee the day soon where stories like this will be about as boring as a story of a reporter using a car or telephone, but right now.. HOW COOL!
Twitter in Congress
A tweet from @CoachDeb caught my attention:
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@johnculberson u just became my FAVORITE Tweeter! TX 4 keeping America informed while the lights went out on Congress by #Pelosi |
I hadn’t seen the event live, but following Congressman Culberson told me more
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@petehoekstra – What a great day – lots of fun & very healthy for America & the House. Our Twitters were key Pete. CSPAN used my Qik video 01:35 AM August 02, 2008 |
I will let you click through to see how Twitter is a tool for democracy. My objective is show how easy it was for me to get news.. even when I wasn’t paying much attention.
Should you trust Twitter.. The Exxon Mess
As soon as I finished catching up on Congress through Twitter, I noticed a message from @BenMack to read this post from @jowyang
How “Janet” Fooled the Twittersphere She’s the Voice of Exxon Mobil
The lessons learned section at the bottom of the story are a must read
Twitter is not just for telling your tweeps about your cat, hat and TV watching plans (I’m watching The Cat in the Hat.. how did you know?). All these tweets are bits and pieces of what is really going on in our lives and some of it is very important.
But remember, Twitter is much like hanging out in a downtown shopping district of a large city. You’ll find some bargains, can meet up with friends, and meet new ones (even better on Twitter). But watch out for the guy that is selling watches and handbags. They may not be the real.
Share your Twitter Makes the the News story below.. not just a story about Twitter.. but Twitter helping the news spread faster, or best of all getting the story out that we might not have heard otherwise.
What’s your favortie story of how Twitter changed the world?
I doesn’t have to be about you. You don’t need to be the person in the story, or breaking the news. We are all reporters now!
Just scroll down and post your comment so we can include you in the our book. We know that the tweets of all of us will give us a better book. We are writing Twitter style.
Be sure to include your @ name so we can follow you.
On July 29 2008, there was an Earthquake in S. California, within seconds there were tweets all over twitter about it, and it was a quick way to find out if your friends were OK. Wow, the news traveled really fast this way.
I got started with Twitter in late June. Early July I signed up to go to a Seminar by Pat O’Bryan because of a twitter post. Because of Twitter, I now have friends who either make money online or want to, instead of friends that tell me it is a scam.
These are people I can talk to about my latest post, or a web name. It is amazing.
Twitter me @bluemoonMJ
(I had the same experience as Erin re the earthquake the other day.)
Though I live in Los Angeles now, my hometown is Santa Barbara. I was trying to follow news on the Goleta Gap fire last month as I was concerned about friends in the area. I did google searches, checked local government sites, local daily newspaper and tv sites but couldn’t find up-to-date info. From what I’ve heard people in the area also were not kept informed.
Then I discovered the Santa Barbara weekly newspaper, the Independent, was on twitter! @sbinde kept us constantly informed! With their tweets and the articles on their website, the Independent did an outstanding job. Traditional media should be very worried!
@rebeccaquinn
On July 29, 2008 I was watching @successfool’s Ustream broadcast when @ericfarewell and a few other people that were on the chat, reported they were having an earthquake in California.
Alejandro (successfool) turned on CNN to see what was going on. It was at least 10 minutes after we learned of it that the mainstream media issued reports of it. By that time http://www.summize.com had already been updating new tweets about the earthquake every 5 to 10 seconds.
It was also through the tweets of Congressman Culberson (@johnculberson) from the House floor that I first learned of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s efforts to silence the Republican’s request for a vote on domestic drillng by turning off the lights, cameras and microphones.
In these two instances it was definitely Twitter that reported the news -before the “news”.
Sharon McPherson
@SharonMcP
So many newbies on twitter don’t even know how fun a twitter party can be. Super Bowl ad ratings was a blast. We had a huge party and everyone yelled their stars for me to post. Twitter added a great dimension to the revelry.
@jeanetteJoy
I wanted to start using social networks effectively right away. With Twitter I was almost instantly able to get on the “inside track”, discover what the key players really think about trends in new media without having to rely on blogs alone or even more unreliable…sales pages and promotional emails.
What I found unique about Twitter is I was able to actually connect with those key players and pass on the “latest news” to my growing number of followers.
My circle of influence quadrupled in size in under two weeks. Twitter has been literally life changing. Can’t put it any other way.
@glencrosier
Twitter rocks! I get a lot of my political, social and business news there from folks I’m following — often before it’s reported in mainstream media. I’m constantly amazed by all the new ways people are finding to enjoy Twitter!
@smartstartcoach