8/10/2019 What The Tweet - The next step
1/1
By NIKI CHEONG
[email protected]
WHEN SohaibAthar(@Really
Virtual) sent tweetsut about the rarevent a helicop-er hovering
above
Abbottabad, a city inPakistan a fewnights ago, he didntmagine
that he would
e credited withbreaking such anmportant piece of
news.In fact, it was such
n insignificantmoment, that the
econd tweet was inest: Go away heli-opter before I takeut my
giant swatter
-/.The helicopter was one of four
n a raid held to capture AlQaedas Osama bin Laden, which
ventually led to his death.Of course, no one (besides
hose who were clued in abouthe raid) knew about the incident
ohaib was tweeting about.In fact, the Twitterverse only
went on an #osama and #OBLampage after @KeithUrbahnweeted: So Im
told by a repu-able person they have killed
Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.This has been credited by manynews
sources as the first tweet
bout the attack.It appeared even before US
president Barack Obama officiallynnounced the news.
Like most major news that hasbroken on Twitter, the franticearch
to find the early tweeterss a given. This would be followedy the
announcement, ofteny advocates of social medias
prowess, that Twitter has oncegain trumped the
traditionalmedia.
Considering the number ofreaking news weve gotten on
Twitter, I wonder if were notired of the same rethoric yet.
Ever since Janis Krums postedhat now-iconic picture of the
US Airways plane that crashednto the Hudson River in New
York in 2009, Twitter has beenredited with breaking the newsf
several significant events and
ncidents.Many the traditional media
ncluded have acknowledgedocial medias speed in termsf
information dissemination.
t is this realisation that hased to the many debates abouthe
journalism industry, the
downfall of traditional media,nd social medias role in
thisphenomenon.
The fact is that it is not thebility to scoop the
traditional
media that makes social mediawhat it is. Social media does
not
xist in isolation and is mostpowerful when used to comple-
ment and mobilise action.That is why it is time we
move on from focusing onthe breaking news factorand instead look
at other
elements that socialmedia can offer. Perhaps,we should start
asking
more often: What cansocial media do after the newshas
broken?
We have already seen exam-ples of this happening in the pastfew
months.
In Japan recently, when thetragic earthquake happened,
social media aided in thesearch efforts (through GooglesPerson
Finder) and in sendingout tsunami alerts. In NorthAfrica, and the
Middle East,it was the conversationshappening on social mediathat
served as an enabler for therevolutions.
I also found Sohaibs tweets(such as when he posted onTwitpic,
life in Abbottabad,around the time of Obamasannouncement) to be
most inter-esting in the news developmentof Osamas death on
Monday.Then there were also the use ofGoogle Maps to indicate the
loca-tion of the raid.
These examples indicate that itis in action that social
mediareigns supreme.
Online media companyGigaOm, in an article titledThestages of
news in a Twitter andFacebook era, wrote: Action.This is where
Facebook andsocial media really shine. Fromtweets about people
seekingmore information from friendsto those seeking to find out
ifothers are meeting at GroundZero by checking out a live webcam of
the site, people now canlearn about news and do some-thing.
Many social media advocateswill tell you that we havent seen
anything yet when it comes tothe real power of these
networks.With each new incident andevent happening around theworld,
we are seeing ingeniusnew ways in which people areusing social
media. We live inexciting times, where technologyis concerned, but
for me, it is inthe anticipation of what is tocome that is keeping
me on theedge of my seat.
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EvenbeforeUSpresiden
t
BarackObamaofficially
confirmedthedeathof
OsamabinLaden,thenew
s
hadalreadycreatedTwit
ter
buzz.
The next step
