While many people tuned into their televisions to get the latest information on the Mumbai attacks, many more went online. As Google searches for the Mumbai attacks peaked, many were being directed to Twitter which was displaying 50-100 messages per minute on the attacks, many of them eye witness accounts.
Twitter, along with many other social media sites are leading the way in delivering the latest news, the thousands of users creating an army of journalist, many updating live from the source using a mobile phone. Now many newspapers are realising they simply can’t compete, and the NYTimes is calling for photos and eye witness accounts of what is happening.
More than just headlines and latest reports, some of the Tweets were very personal such as one message which said; “Emergency’ can some one check if there bomb blast of some shootout in Oberoi hotel of anywhere in Mumbai? I am at Inox insideâ€[sic]. Another Tweet encouraged people to give blood, letting users know which hospitals had a shortage.
While Twitter has been given a lot of credit for providing live news on the event, many other web 2.0 sites played a huge part as well. Flickr, for example, had many photos uploaded taken live from the scene, giving users a real eye-witness account into what was actually happening, while a Google map was used to update people on where the attacks had occurred. Facebook, on the other hand was used by citizens in the main attack area to update friends and family that they were ok via the status feed.
One blog which deserves a mention is mumbaihelp which gave information on hospitals and emergency relief within the Bombay area, as well as informing others where they could donate blood.
While, Twitter has been very useful as a news source throughout the conflict, it is important to remember that live Tweets are not verified and it is important to think about what the consequences of Tweeting certain information could mean.
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- The Great British Twitter Unmasking (or what Jonathan Ross does in his spare time)
