This morning I was reading my Bulldog Reporter e-mail when I saw a headline that got my attention: "Buzz About Swine Flu Spikes Big Online: CDC Posts Updates as Bloggers and Twitterers Spring Into Action." Since I have been reading articles about the swine flu like crazy the last few days, I immediately clicked on this article.
The article said that the words swine flu had been present in 2% of all Tweets on Twitter, the swine flu Wikipedia page was updated more than 60 times in one hour and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has been updating its website frequently as well.
This article was of interest to me not only because of my growing concern for a possible swine flu pandemic, (I'm leaving for Europe in 23 days and I'm hoping that won't be affected!) but because of the growing impact social media has on our lives. Bloggers and Twitter users are quickly becoming the first people to break news. People don't even have to watch TV or read newspapers anymore. Just go to your favorite social media website and get your news there!
What do you think about the capabilities of Twitter users and bloggers to release breaking news? Do you go to Twitter or blogs for news before other types of media?
No comments:
Post a Comment