Printing Press

Stop the presses! I saw a newsworthy tweet!

I know that many people have touted the strength of twitter as a news gathering source and I agree with some of what has been said, but it wasn’t until recently that it really hit home how much momentum Twitter had in news gathering. On Wednesday, I mentioned the Graco stroller recall on Twitter because I had contacted Graco after hearing that some children had their fingertips amputated by a hinge on the stroller. Shortly after sending out the tweet, I received an email from Andrea Chang of the LA Times. She asked me to call her, so that she could get my take on the situation as a parent. So, I called her and spoke with her for a bit. The next day I was quoted in the LA Times online. I am not sure if it made it into print as well, but it might have.

Then, today I watched The Weather Channel for the first time in months.  A couple of the broadcasters referenced Twitter and Twitpic several times in the span of a few minutes. They made the references it as if it was common to do so because everyone knew what both of those services were. That lead me to believe that Twitter has increasingly become a popular way to source news. Otherwise, the broadcasters would be more likely to explain to their audience what Twitter and Twitpic were to some degree.

Now the big question that I’ve been contemplating for awhile is whether or not Twitter is a good research tool when it comes to news.   (more…)