Twitter as News Media

Twitter started as an idea to let friends and family let each other know what they were doing at a certain point in time, any time. Twitter became a huge success and let millions of people speak out if only for a brief 100 character sound bite. In 2009 Twitter started looking like a prime commercial opportunity for people who know how to use internet marketing. Twitter responded by limiting the number of people you could follow to 1,000; and the amount of posts you could place in an hour. Twitter tried to stay in the social media realm as best it could.

Then, in June of 2009, Twitter turned a corner that no one ever thought it would or could. Twitter became a type of news media when the Iranian elections sparked massive protests and near revolution. The mainstream press and most Internet news sites were nearly shut out of Iran by the ruling order. Then came Twitter. By phone and Instant Messaging, Twitter was flooded with news coming from the Iranian public. These first hand reports coming directly from the protesters became the breaking news directly from the source, the people themselves. It took time for the Iranian government to react, and even with their attempt to block communication, Twitter still helped deliver current events in an "up to the minute" format. No one saw this coming, not Twitter, not its users, not any government.

The next history making event which Twitter turned news media was the death of Michael Jackson. When Michael Jackson died on June 25, Twitter came alive once again with the breaking news as it happened. Again the mainstream media was beaten by the social networking community on Twitter. Over 500 messages per minute showed the effect of the news and of the success of Twitter as a communication tool. The ability to deliver news as it happened had been both proven and accepted by this once little site used just to say "hi" to friends and family.

History was made in June of 2009. Not because of Iran, not because of the death of a music icon, not because of the drastic cuts in mainstream media because of the economy; but because of how a little social media communication medium had surpassed what it set out to do. Twitter, in the middle of 2009 managed to show the world how the new citizen journalist could bring reality to everybody at a moments notice; faster than any news media had been able to do up to that point.