The Digital Mystique by Sarah Granger

Author:Sarah Granger [Granger, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781580055154
Publisher: Seal Press

Twitter for Live News and Events

I highly recommend using Twitter if you like following news, live events, or other active engagement through digital media. If you’re new to Twitter and want to check it out, here’s a quick primer: a “tweet” is like a text message that can go online either to the public, if your account is set to public, or to a select group of “followers” that you approve, if you select a private account. You can also set up mobile alerts from your favorite Twitter accounts to make sure you don’t miss anything they’re sharing. I recommend following at least fifty Twitter accounts and committing to logging into Twitter once a day for a month to give it a realistic trial.

In the midst of my research for this book, three major national incidents happened: the Boston Marathon bombings, the massive Oklahoma tornado, and the airplane crash at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). I was active online—particularly on Twitter, where people share breaking news most rapidly—during each of these events. I cared about what happened in these events, and social media brought me closer to what was happening on the ground. It also provides perspective from real people.

Immediately following the San Francisco plane crash, an active Samsung digital media executive who had been on the plane gave live updates via Path (auto-posted to Twitter) about his experience. Other information gradually trickled in as to what actually had happened on the ground. Most of it was accurate, but some was inaccurate and/or speculation. The downside of digital media being so speedy is definitely the margin of error; reports must be verified. The significant upside is that if you follow reputable news sources and individuals, you can piece together a situation much more quickly and accurately than some of the older forms of news media—especially national television. As I was watching my Twitter stream soon after the plane crash, I saw one person I follow retweet this: “@Luxie313 CNN is talking to people who are sitting eating lunch at SFO, meanwhile Twitter has people who were actually on the plane. #SFOcrash.” She made a valid point: now we can get firsthand sources directly without always needing news reporters to be intermediaries.

Planned live events can also be highly engaging. This year’s Academy Awards ceremony took full advantage of Twitter, to the point where the host, Ellen DeGeneres, asked a few of the nominated actors to join her in a selfie, aiming to break the record for the most retweeted Twitter post (tweet) ever. After a dozen people crowded together, actor Bradley Cooper snapped the photo and Ellen tweeted the image from her Twitter account, gathering more than 3 million retweets over the course of a few days. They obliterated the previous record, held by Barack Obama. That offline-to-online moment, blended with the online Twitter conversation throughout the event, made the transmedia (the combination of TV and digital media) event a smashing success. In the future, there will be more Twitter-TV integration, showing tweets on TV, and linking videos from Twitter.

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