Around The World
You heard it first ... on Twitter
Sun Jun 28 06:24PM
As Twitter evangelist -- or Twitter boor, some may say -- in the Washington office I had just sat down with another victim.
I was just starting to explain to her how Twitter works when the following "tweet" popped up on Tweetdeck, the application I use to monitor Twitter.
"BULLETIN -- MICHAEL JACKSON TAKEN TO LOS ANGELES HOSPITAL IN CARDIAC ARREST, TMZ.COM REPORTS."
It was from BNO News, a Twitter feed which describes itself as "the fastest Twitter-based news service."
BNO News is indeed fast -- not always right -- but fast. A quick check showed TMZ were indeed reporting what BNO said they were.
I set off a mad scramble by informing the newsroom and my Twitter pupil bounded out of her chair saying "I need to call LA!" As it happens, Los Angeles bureau chief Rob Woollard subscribes to TMZ email alerts and was already on the case. But my Twitter pupil was impressed.
When she returned she said she didn't need any more persuading. "I'm convinced," she said. If only it was always so easy.
In this blog, reporters and editors for global news wire AFP blog about the news they report and the challenges they face covering events from Baghdad to Beijing, the White House to Darfur. Chris Lefkow is AFP Technology & New Media Editor, based in Washington.Comment on this article
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who thinks up these stupid names..eg..twitter?..bebo?..meaningless daft words..
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Recent reviews suggest 60% of Twitter users leave within a month. It is largely giving a voice to people who want to say look at me " Demi Moore on the death of Michael Jackson............." or letting people with nothing much interesting to say to have a voice...." Demi Moore on Susan Boyle............" The media just seems to feel they have to mention it as it is revolutionisng the world. It is doing what the internet does a few moments faster. Most of " microblogging" is utter drivel - people telling you they are having a coffee...........really? Amazing.
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Anything that keeps people "feel" connected in this difficult world is wonderful. Many are cut off from social commerce for reasons known only to themselves. This is a fun way of being "in touch" what harm can it do?
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One thing that this blog proves ...by the obvious lack of positive responses to it....is that nobody is overly excited by Twitter...post 23 says it all. It wouldn't surprise me for one minute if this latest fad ' bites the dust ' very quickly and we will all be sitting impatiently, waiting for the next hi tech toy to appear, to further blight our lives.
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Although it is obviously of use to some people, like those who wish to be assassinated so want to post their location every so often, the vast majority of twitter users, or 'twits,' only serve to clutter up the Internet's bandwidth with meaningless drivel. In this sense the 140 character limit, that I've probably overrun here, may be seen to be a good thing. It also may be seen as encouraging malware, as the use of URL shortening services has become commonplace, so you have no idea what you're clicking.
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twitter is the place to be follow my tweets mrmoan my twitter name but i have to say i never found this news out there i was on the tmz site when the news broke there and that was the 1st place to break the news they really do have a good rep for being the 1st on LOADS of news from the celeb world tmz rock
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hhh i can't believe it
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....and as any woman will tell you - it ain't about being the fastest with a short one, is it?
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It's a sad indictment of the celeb fixated world that such an unfortunate event was succressfully and continues to be used in this article to promote what is an essentially a totally self-indulgent & useless pastime!
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'Twitter'. To behave more like a 'Twit'?
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