Mumbai Terror & the Media Role of Twitter
Like many people, I have been following and trying to understand the vicious attacks by terrorists in Mumbai. On one hand, the militants have struck at India’s tourist and financial heart, and have focused on killing or taking hostage foreign visitors, including Americans, British and Israelis. On the other hand … why?
There have been reports that the terrorists possibly were backed by Pakistan, India’s unfriendly neighbor. But, again, why?
In my view, the teams of professional killers are Islamist extremists, focused on destabilizing a significant part of the world which will have profound ripple effects around the world, including the U.S. and Britain. Their goal might be to push India and Pakistan to a nuclear brink. Who really knows at this point?
What I have been watching is how innocent people, many Americans, who are trapped in burning hotels or in hiding have been communicating with their families, the media and the outside world.
Twitter has played a significant role in providing and coordinating essential and, sometimes, life-saving news.
I have provided a couple of images taken on my iPhone last night of news from #mumbai on Twitter, just to show what it looks like. The news posts have been faster-moving than any other news media.
On the continually updated Twitter bulletin board of mini-blogs, simply identified as #mumbai, we have seen an astonishing flow of news – hospitals putting out pleas for blood, messages that individuals are safe, fatalities, and the movement of the gunmen.
As CNN Online reported, “With more than six million members worldwide, an estimated 80 messages or tweets, were being sent to Twitter.com via SMS every five seconds providing eyewitness accounts and updates.”
Twitter’s activity, importance and influence has grown so quickly that the Indian government forced Twitter to switch off its service in India due to fear that the gunmen, too, might have access and be monitoring. I don’t think Twitter had any other option, despite Twitter’s importance, because too many details sometimes are shared publicly on Twitter.
We can, however, monitor #mumbai today. You must first have a Twitter account, which is both free and easy.
#Mumbai is another example of how online social media, like Twitter, is redefining news in the Internet age.
For more perspective about the value and activity on #Mumbai, I recommend reading Doug Vanisky’s blog – DeeJayDog Productions.
Related posts:
- Breaking News: Twitter Beats Mainstream Media
- Twitter for Beginners
- Why Twitter Matters & Who Cares?
- Rules of Social Media
- User Manual for Twitter
Category: Featured, Social Networking
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Twitter has definitely been growing in effectiveness for a while. The atrocities in Mumbai are a perfect example. US meteorologists and weather centers have used Twitter numerous times before in the lead-up, during and after hurricanes to keep families connected and up-to-date.
As more news sources get to grips with what it has to offer, and the service itself becomes more stable, I believe we could see Twitter become one of the key news tools around.
@Danny Brown,
Danny,
You are absolutely correct. Twitter has demonstrated its effectiveness during the fires in southern California as well as today in India. Unfortunately, many other news organizations – i.e. CNN to CBS News – look down their noses at Twitter.
Thanks for commenting.
David
I was just gearing up to write about this very same topic. I found myself spellbound last night on two fronts: following this horrible ordeal, and secondly, witnessing the speed of Twitter’s communication.
As someone with many Indian friends who have wonderful families that I care deeply about, I was hoping for a quick resolution and explanation. As a web strategist, I was captured in comparing Twitter’s ability to precede CNN and other news sources with accurate information.
You’ve managed to express my thoughts on the matter more eloquently than I can, so I thank you for this timely post.
@Doug Vanisky,
Doug,
I appreciate you commenting and invite you to add your own thoughts and perspective – either on your own blog and/or here. Send them to me (click Contact), and I will post within my post today as an addition from you.
David
Hi dave,
I was lead to this post via twitter. I was watching the coverage on the news and comparing them with the tweets I was receiving from the major news networks. I was amazed at the speed in which the tweets were beating mainstream coverage.
The only problem I found was the conflicting reports each of the outlets had as far as casualty counts were. I thought it was interesting seeing the differences from outlet to outlet.
It led me to find a couple of new sites which use twitter to essentially “crowdsource” reports.
While verification of information is something twitter is lacking, It’s timeliness beats traditional journalism every time.
@Adam Gainer,
Adam,
Cheers for your work on this issue! Let me share one quick story – during the fires in California, I shared with a former colleague at CBS News how fast Twitter was providing news updates. This man, a senior news editor, totally dismissed Twitter as unsubstantiated. He is correct in that we want accuracy in the media but I just wish he were seeing the 40 to 50 mini-posts a minute currently on #mumbai of essential news.
Thanks,
David