Twitter Does it Again

I've been contemplating all week if I should write something about the whole Twitter/CNN situation but haven't yet because I (a) just haven't had the time and (b) don't feel the need to "re-invent the blog post" so to speak, since there are so many great articles out there already (check out The Power of Twitter, written by a PepperDigital co-worker, or scan through the latest New York Times articles - there are new ones every day!).

The bottom line is that Twitter has once again made a huge impact on current affairs, and continues to beat out traditional news as a means of communication. We saw this a few months ago with the first pictures of the U.S. Airways crash being posted to Twitter before they made it to a broadcast news station. Today, Twitter once again "beat out" traditional news with the quickest updates on a story that hit close to home for me. Or should I say, close to my old home.

Having gone to the University of Georgia, I fell in love with the sweet little town of Athens over the last four years. Athens, affectionately known as "the Classic City," has an amazing downtown scene with tons of old buildings and hundreds of years of history. There are so many landmarks around the town that are well-known and loved by students and locals alike, but today there is one less.

When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was check my e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook like I do every morning (okay, after I hit the snooze about 4 times - Fridays are rough). One of the first tweets I saw was about the Georgia Theater catching fire. WHAT?? I was immediately wide awake and began frantically searching the news for more information. (For those of you who don't know, the Georgia Theater is an old movie theater in downtown Athens that was converted into the most popular music venue in Athens, with headliners like R.E.M., Widespread Panic and other Athens legends over the years.)

I first did a Google News search to see what was going on... which gave me frustratingly few details (the theater caught fire this morning, more information to come..).  So, I posted a question to Twitter...

... and within minutes had responses from complete strangers filling me in on what had happened.  All morning, people have been posting live updates, pictures and videos.  Even now, there are few details to be found on traditional news outlets but Athenians continue to post the latest snippets of news on their Twitter feeds.  

When the U.S. Airways crash happened, people started saying that "it would only be a matter of time" before citizen journalism truly overtakes traditional media.  Where do we officially draw that line? Did it start to happen with the Twitter picture of the U.S. Airways plane down in the Hudson River? Can I say today, since I have relied solely on Twitter and have stopped bothering checking the local news sites, that Twitter has actually taken over? Or what about the situation in Iran, where citizens there can only rely on this one means of communication and all others are blocked? When will people stop saying it is "going to happen" and realize it is actually happening before our eyes?

Real World: Welcome & Opening Session

As promised this is the first of several posts on the various sessions I attended at Real World in Atlanta on Friday.  After parking and checking in (and amazingly enough NOT getting lost in Atlanta... there's a first), we got coffee and settled down at our table to talk to the other people we were sitting with.  I was with two girls from my hometown of Sarasota who had driven all the way from UF to attend the conference (try to contain your shock that I was co-existing with Gators), and we were at a table with a few other students and PR professionals.  

After a quick introduction, the day started with a panel of employees from CNN (moderated by PRSA|GA President Mike Neumeier).  The participants included Victor Hernandez (Director of Coverage), Lila King (Senior Producer of User Participation - CNN.com & iReport.com), and Jennifer Martin (Director of PR - New Media & Digital Networks).  The questions focused particularly on new media and how social media has affected politics in the recent years.  

Here's a summary of what I thought were the most interesting points:

• Between the '04 and '08 Campaigns, social media evolved from candidates pushing their message to "the people" (voters) pushing the message for them.
  
• Social media in the '08 election was used for real time updates and connecting people, in conjunction with the rise of citizen journalism.  This was when people started to realize social media isn't just a fad.
  
• iReport has allowed coverage to become more personal.  When viewers were asked what they would want to ask the presidential candidates, questions ranged from campaign-related to questions about their personal lives and on a more local level.
• In addition to providing information to voters, Obama literally brought people along on the trail with him via Twitter.
• Social media allows huge gaps to be bridged (age, cultural, geographic, etc.)
• It's not necessarily more important to have viewers on the TV versus online, it's really just important that people are consuming the information being put out there by news stations.
• Citizen journalism is definitely helpful to journalists (rather than harmful) - it allows for a multiplicity of voices and perspectives.  
• It is still the journalist's responsibility to collect and synthesize the information provided by citizen journalists.  This shows how citizen journalism complements (not replaces) traditional media.
• Citizen journalism enables two-way communication.
• While it can be tough to remain neutral (there is no "view from nowhere"), there is a difference between being biased and simply letting people know where you're coming from (the Fed Ex/Twitter case was mentioned as the perfect example of crossing that fine line).
• Always remember how important transparency is - identify yourself!