Twitter as a news sourece
I know that many other people have talked about this, in many different ways, and that some people might be sick of hearing about / reading about it... but I' going to add my voice to the many today here with All-A-Twitter.
One of the great things about Twitter is that I can use it as a tool to see what is really going on in the world.
Today I'm using Twitter Search to track what is up with with Hurricane Ike. I love doing this because it gives me a idea of how normall everyday peple are being affected by this strom, in ways that no other tool that I know about can.
What I'm cerious to see is if Twitter will keep moving as fast as it is now when the storm makes land fall... Part of me thinks that it will as people in places like Huston (which is NOT being evacuated even though it looks like Ike is going to beat the shit out of it) will use Twitter to tell the world what is going down at a pace of 140 characters every few seconds.
However, part of me thinks that when the strom doing a Twitter update is going to be one of the last things on their minds.
The thought that just crossed my mind was that if I were with a bunch of people I did not know who had all been evacuated to a school or something, I'd try to create a Tweet-up... is that messed up?
Here are a few interesting Tweets about Ike...
millsda2 Houston=Tina Turner ........ Come an get me Hurricane Ike!!! And put some stank on it!
Sheridan Is it ironic that my daughter is on her way into this world at the same hurricane Ike is descending or does it just feel that way to me?
argusleader: Update: 'Certain death' predicted as storm surges toward Texas: HOUSTON � As a gigantic Hurricane Ike.. http://twurl.nl/ntkdke
INFECTEDPB503: CNN: Some residents in single-family homes in coastal Texas face "certain death" if they do not heed Hurricane Ike evacuation orders
ikefeed: Photo (Flickr): Latest Satellite Image Hurricane Ike 09/12/08 12.15pm GMT http://tinyurl.com/4wqsng
It is strange to see so many Tweets talking about people facing "certain death" if they stick around for the storm, then to see lots of Tweets about how people in Huston will be sticking around.
Thats it for now.
Take care Twitter heads.
-N
