November 28, 2008 | Friday

Twitter is the New News

By James Lowery - SEO Strategist in SEO |Social Media

Earlier this week, Rishi Lakhani made a post about Twitter on the Latitude blog, commenting on how the Magpie System was likely to be the quickest way to lose friends and alienate followers on Twitter. Twitter has hit the news again, for a completely different reason thanks to its use by people caught up in the terrible events in Mumbai where many of the updates are being supplied via Tweets.

This isn’t the first time that Twitter has hit the news, or that a new technology has shown its value in a time of crisis, but it could represent a watershed for both the world at large and what is rumoured to be a struggling web company. After all, Twitter’s lack of a revenue stream has previously been reported here.

The big problem with conventional means of communication, like mobile phones, is that you don’t have the ability to talk to more than one person at a time to let them know you’re OK. With a broadcast system like Twitter, you can let the whole world know what is happening, and you can do it instantly.

The reason why Twitter has been replacing the news this week is that it has been so fast, effective, and remarkably robust in providing information to both emergency services in Mumbai, and to the world at large about exactly what is going on. To the credit of the community that uses it, Twitter has also been accurate in its coverage. To the people involved, Twitter has been essential, giving them hope in a very difficult situation, and allowing them to keep in touch with loved ones.

Perhaps, rather than looking to advertising platforms as a source of revenue. or receiving finance from Facebook, Twitter should be looking to use its new found status as a lifeline to get funding from government bodies as an essential communications tool for rescuers in an emergency, rather than being viewed as no more than another interesting toy.