Twitter as a news source

Twitter as a news source

In our soon to be available Grumpy Old Managers Guide To Social Media Marketing, we talk about how Twitter can be used as a news source. It’s more instant than newspapers and quite often even more up-to-date than online news sites.

A Twitter user posted the first pic of the Hudson River plane crash and Twitter was also a great way to keep on track on developments about the NSW bushfires.

However, last week Australian entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins reported that actor Jeff Goldblum had died. His source? Twitter. Richard said of the breaking the news “I haven’t had a chance to check it out”. It turned out that this was a hoax.

Lesson to be learned here: check your facts before you air them!

Wherever you find your information be it Twitter, websites or even a book, you need to check your sources and more importantly check the credibility of those sources.

~ by Nikki Carter on July 1, 2009.