#Mumbai and the news from Twitter

I don’t have a problem with Twitter being used as a new source. After all it’s simply another form of communication like TV, Internet, phone, two cups strung together etc . The value or worth of what it produces is entirely down to the person yelling into the cup.

I'm frequently #Mumbai on Twitter. The full extent and scale of the horror is yet to be fully realised. However, it has provided an example of social networking works in such a situation. There is a mixture of eye witness accounts, outbursts of disbelief, political commentary, outlandish claims and general pontification. All live and unmediated.

The downside was the inevitable rise of unsubstantiated rumour and counter-rumour that has surfaced. This is hardly surprising and perfectly understandable. However it does represent a set back to those who advocate Twitter as a legitimate news gathering source.

I'm not necessarily arguing that Twitter can't reliably break news. However, it is difficult to establish if some Tweets are

a. First hand information

b. Not originally sourced from a third party which could be found out through another means (like watching it on the telly).

c. Complete bollocks

So from a news gathering or news breaking point of view, Twitter is no better or worse than any other form of communication in that it depends entirely how trustworthy the source is.

On the other hand, when it comes to news coverage, Twitter has huge potential.

The enormous reach and portability of Twitter means that anyone with a basic mobile phone can relay information from anywhere within range of a cell mast. This means that any sort of event can be shared with people from all over the world. Within the context of news it could be an unconference, a demonstration, a natural disaster or a war zone.

What makes news coverage via Twitter so effective is the myriad audio and video applications it supports like 12seconds, Seesmic, Phreadz and QIK to name but a few. It’s this element of citizen journalism that some professional hacks may not like because they’ve become so used to using news wires to break stories that all they have to give them an edge over the rest of us is the quality of the coverage. Others recognise its potential and get involved.

Twitter empowers citizen journalists and allows them to not only report on on the spot but more importantly, enables them to reach a huge audience. Its not a complete solution as it lacks the objectivity in the same way embedded journalism does. However, it doesn't go through the usual news media prism and is received without being framed to suit anyone else's agenda. That, for me is its true value.

As post script I'd like to mention the emerging notion that Twitter is or was being used by terrorists with phones in Mumbai to monitor #mumbai for locations of potential targets.

The idea of terrorists sifting through thousands of tweets from people all over the world expressing concern, relating CNN feeds and cracking the odd bad joke on a mobile while hiding from the Indian security forces in the faint hope that there is still a politician or high ranking soldier foolish enough to still be out in the open is frankly laughable. At least it would be if you removed the appalling backdrop. I for one am not having a bar of that and would question the motives behind anyone propagating the idea.