Crises Tracking on Twitter: The Benefits –and Dangers– of New Media
Yesterday morning, on a slow Sunday, I was witness to yet another disaster being reported from first hand sources on Twitter. This has reoccured for the small explosion at Times Square last year, Earthquake in China, Bombings in India, Fires in L.A., and now a propane factory exploding in Toronto. When I tweeted that “BREAKING: @photojunkie citizen journalist has pics and video of Toronto explosion, BEFORE press story http://tinyurl.com/6rke9q” I was acting like an amplifier. Some reporters follow me and it quickly was swept into the LATimes blog, and I was contacted in email by a Canadian newspaper, who I sent to Photojunkie, a real source, as I was not. Of course, this leads to some risks: 1) Sources may … Continue readingCrises Tracking on Twitter: The Benefits –and Dangers– of New Media