Using Twitter as a source.

[sonorandesert]

Watching CNN and the election result riots in Tehran, I signed into my Twitter account.
The reading by all means was fascinating ("tanks are on the edge of Tehran" or "Revolutionary Guards are now marching into Tehran...").
If Twitter were around during "Desert Storm"...?

Kudos to CNN for stating that some information can't be verified but still reported.

Is it a good idea to consider using a social network as a source in a highly fluid situation?

[HushHush]

As long as you use a disclaimer that what you're reporting is coming from a social networking source - that details are not verified - I think it's a great idea. Why not utilize the people who are living the moment?

I told my history teacher in high school that I didn't really care who signed which Bill in to law when. What I wanted to know was how the PEOPLE lived. What they celebrated, what they wore, what was every day life like. And if he couldn't tell me THOSE important details then I wasn't interested in passing his class. The same holds true for today - I don't pay much attention to politics - but I do love the human interest stories that talk about every day life.

If a hurricane blows through here this summer I'll probably utilize Twitter and Face book to keep my family updated. And I'll annoy all the other friends with my own storm side reporting.

[Roy Hobbs]

Twitter? I barely know her!

[newz2me]

I feel it's a bad idea using an anonymous source from Twitter. What would stop me from making outrageous claims without any way for you to verify it? As far as using it with a disclaimer, I think that's just passing on the blame of irresponsibility if your source is really just pulling a prank.
I remember the AP last year running a story that Paris Hilton was starting a fund for drunken elephants in India. The AP ran and later retracted the story. I've got a copy of it on my wall at work. Does it make a difference if I can attribute that to a source? It was still wrong and the AP looked like idiots.
Being first with the story is important but not at the risk of half truths, exaggerations or just flat out fabrications. It's a dangerous path we're walking when we start using Twitter, blogs and such as sources.

[cong]

I feel it's a bad idea using an anonymous source from Twitter. What would stop me from making outrageous claims without any way for you to verify it? As far as using it with a disclaimer, I think that's just passing on the blame of irresponsibility if your source is really just pulling a prank.
I remember the AP last year running a story that Paris Hilton was starting a fund for drunken elephants in India. The AP ran and later retracted the story. I've got a copy of it on my wall at work. Does it make a difference if I can attribute that to a source? It was still wrong and the AP looked like idiots.
Being first with the story is important but not at the risk of half truths, exaggerations or just flat out fabrications. It's a dangerous path we're walking when we start using Twitter, blogs and such as sources.

i agree. if it's unverified, don't pass it on. however, no media is going to follow that because someone else will do it, and they're afraid of being left behind.

[newz2me]

That's so true. It's a sad state what journalism is becoming.

[wx or not]

I watched the same CNN coverage. The reporter kept mentioning that this is "real time coverage, look at this last post, just 20 seconds ago!" My wife said "How do you know who is actually posting? Could be some kid in his parents' basement."

[tater]

Medialine is even more credible than Twitter.

[DW]

Medialine is even more credible than Twitter.

..and that's saying a lot!

[News Is Broken]

I'm surprised Dyckerson hasn't bragged about twittering someone's mama yet.

[Mighty Dyckerson]

I'm surprised Dyckerson hasn't bragged about twittering someone's mama yet.

Me too. Why haven't you, Dyckerson??

[News Is Broken]

Me too. Why haven't you, Dyckerson??

Because I can't keep up my manly hetrosexual image of being a testosterone crazed freak that screws everything female while using the word "twitter". I guess this means I'm gay.

[Produce man]

Having fun with yourselves, I see...:rolleyes:

[News Is Broken]

Having fun with yourselves, I see...:rolleyes:

What's the matter Veggie, did you lose the password to From The Wrong?

[wx or not]

Having fun with yourselves, I see...:rolleyes:
Always better to play with others than to..., well...

[Produce man]

Always better to play with others than to..., well...Thank you.

[kreporter]

I agree with both sides. I tweet with a bunch of the people I work with like the assignment editor and producers, and if one of us tweets something, we feel it's safe to use it as still unverified information. However, if we see some random person we're following tweet a speculation of something, if we have time we'll look up the information to try and find out ourselves, or wait for more tweets to come in stating the same thing.
Just yesterday, I was at home during the 11 o'clock news and they were on TV reporting 4 deaths in the DC rail accident when 5 minutes earlier, I had read off the wire that 6 were now confirmed dead. I tweeted it and it was put on air quicker, because of twitter.

[adam & doctor drew]

if you read something on the wire and "tweet" it as your own, isn't that stealing someone else's info?

[kreporter]

no no I said "AP reports 6 people now confirmed dead in DC accident"

[Roy Hobbs]

I tweeted it and it was put on air quicker,

Quicker? I don't even eat 'em!
http://images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com/image/A6602/66020/300_66020.jpg

[Kace]

Twitter's pretty good if your source is Kevin Love.

[Roy Hobbs]

What if your source is Bob "Butterbean" Love?
http://www.nba.com/media/bulls/love_040915.jpg
And can he use Twitter to overcome his stutter?

[wx or not]

What if your source is Bob "Butterbean" Love?
http://www.nba.com/media/bulls/love_040915.jpg
And can he use Twitter to overcome his stutter?
N n n n n n n n yes.

[Clever Login Name]

I agree with both sides. I tweet with a bunch of the people I work with like the assignment editor and producers, and if one of us tweets something, we feel it's safe to use it as still unverified information. However, if we see some random person we're following tweet a speculation of something, if we have time we'll look up the information to try and find out ourselves, or wait for more tweets to come in stating the same thing.
Just yesterday, I was at home during the 11 o'clock news and they were on TV reporting 4 deaths in the DC rail accident when 5 minutes earlier, I had read off the wire that 6 were now confirmed dead. I tweeted it and it was put on air quicker, because of twitter.

Dear God, I hope this is a fake post.

[SamG]

How is twitter any different than using scanner traffic on air?

[Clever Login Name]

It's not.

[kreporter]

Dear God, I hope this is a fake post.

I don't get it. Why do you hope it's fake?

[wx or not]

I don't get it. Why do you hope it's fake?
I'm with CLN on this. Did you not take notes during classes? Verify, verify, VERIFY! I implore you to look at old tapes of Cronkite on Nov. 22, 1963. He would not go on without verification, and THEN told the world. Look at any major news event, and often, the first to report is not the most accurate, nor the most trustworthy. THAT'll hurt you in ratings, when the public grows tired of "We got our info first, from twitter!!!" No verification from law enforcement, nor trained weather spotters, nor on-the-scene reporters. I truly hope that twitter is recognized for what it truly is: banter.

[Clever Login Name]

I don't get it. Why do you hope it's fake?

Because if it's not, you are the personification of why t-v news is dying a not wholly undeserved death.

But my bet is that one of the regulars here is pulling our collective leg.

[wx or not]

But my bet is that one of the regulars here is pulling our collective leg.
One can truly hope.

[Kace]

I implore you to look at old tapes of Cronkite on Nov. 22, 1963. He would not go on without verification, and THEN told the world.

YouTube rocks the party that rocks the body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8Q3cqGs7I

[kreporter]

So what does everyone think of how the news got out that Michael Jackson was dead after just hearing it on TMZ....it wasn't verified....just curios

[Jax]

So what does everyone think of how the news got out that Michael Jackson was dead after just hearing it on TMZ....it wasn't verified....just curios

It was a weird day on Twitter. I was watching everyone sending out "Michael is dead sez TMZ" while I waited for my network, CNN, or AP to report it. I even made it a point to let our 2,200+ followers know that I was erring on the side of caution. I've never thought TMZ was a credible source.

So I waited and sent it out when CBS did their cutin. TMZ and the people on Twitter were right and very much on the ball.

But then about an hour later a false rumor started floating around Twitter that Jeff Goldblum died and a minor freakout started all over again... Thus reinforcing my philosophy of patient verification.

[Another side]

I'm with CLN on this. Did you not take notes during classes? Verify, verify, VERIFY! I implore you to look at old tapes of Cronkite on Nov. 22, 1963. He would not go on without verification, and THEN told the world. Look at any major news event, and often, the first to report is not the most accurate, nor the most trustworthy. THAT'll hurt you in ratings, when the public grows tired of "We got our info first, from twitter!!!" No verification from law enforcement, nor trained weather spotters, nor on-the-scene reporters. I truly hope that twitter is recognized for what it truly is: banter.

In a general sense, I was right with you until I read "No verification from law enforcement ... ."

You can sometimes wait a long time for government to verify anything. In which case, get it from somewhere else.

[Spike]

So I waited and sent it out when CBS did their cutin.

CBS makes cutin?

http://www2.puc.edu/Faculty/Gilbert_Muth/phot0016.jpg

[Bandit]

Interesting take on Twitter & journalism from Tim Keown of ESPN.com ...

Could Twitter destroy real journalism?


Holly Robinson Peete has no business being part of the Steve McNair discussion, but she was. Ever so briefly, ever so irrelevantly, the wife of former NFL QB Rodney Peete made an appearance through thoroughly modern means: thoughts conveyed via Twitter and relayed to the non-Twittering masses through the blog Deadspin. It doesn't get any more new media than that.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=keown/090707

[The Thrill]

But then about an hour later a false rumor started floating around Twitter that Jeff Goldblum died and a minor freakout started all over again... Thus reinforcing my philosophy of patient verification.

No worries, Goldblum and Steven Colbert handled it brilliantly. (http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/220019/june-29-2009/jeff-goldblum-will-be-missed)

[Jane Craig]

"I was on the twitter this weekend, and I saw a tweetening of the most tragic thing I ever had twattered."

Thanks for the link -- roared when I saw it the first time and am now able to catch stuff I missed then. The double-box reax are priceless.