September 16, 2009

[Culture] Tweets ahead of the news

The red line LUAS tram in Dublin crashed into a number 16 bus on O'Connell Street. I did not hear this from the news, even the breaking news. It was from a tweet from a friend who just so happens to work in a building overlooking the scene of the accident. This tweet was just a little over an hour ago.

darraghs Luas crash photo: http://bit.ly/1noYLM

This is quickly followed by RTs (retweets) from another friend of mine:

murf RT @MarkBagnall: Luas v Bus on O'Connell St, really hope no one was seriously injured http://twitpic.com/hxjqw (via RT @ChristineBohan: )

Around 20 minutes ago, it appeared on AA roadwatch's site, around the same time, it appeared on RTE.ie's news site, and my friend's photo was used.

So you see how media coverage has changed, especially on terrible accidents and tweets help to warn other people about them in case someone they know are in one, or avoid the area when commuting.

Posted by whykay at September 16, 2009 04:15 PM