Twitter

For those of you not familiar with Twitter, it is in my opinion a Facebook status without Facebook. That I find is the best way of explaining it.


For future stories, even if it does not report breaking news then a journalist can find peoples opinions on stories. PR practitioners can find opinions on a product, service or organisation and feature them as a quote or an opinion.

However, although the speed at which Twitter can break news is impressive it could be wrong in the future. I think that we could see Twitter hoax stories where if enough people 'Tweet' a story then it could be believed. That is why I will continue to wait for news to be featured on actual news sites which are more reliable.

Pictures may also be posted on Twitter but there could be ethical issues, some pictures would be great to feature, but others may be inappropriate- especially when there is an accident with deaths and injuries.

Surely if reports on Twitter are wrong then there may be financial implications and reputation management issues just as we have seen with the rise of blogs and information being published on the internet.

So embrace this method of communication and it's uses but be cautious and be aware of possible implications from it's use.

UPDATE: On a story on BBC news 24 on Monday 2nd of March the presenter referred to opinion on twitter. This was on an issue regarding British home owners in Spain being forced to move back to Britain due to the cost of living becoming more expensive over there.