140Char

Normally I post the Twitter quote of the week on Sunday or Monday, and I’ll continue to honour that tradition, but I totally slipped up and forgot this genius quote which sums up the effect of Twitter and earthquakes to the same extent I managed in a typically epic blog post. It’s from @fredwilson:

It’s just one character away from perfection! But after all, it’s the message that counts!

I actually posted my thoughts on Twitter, earthquakes, and how major news sites are going to increasingly lose their advantages on breaking news on my other blog, www.thewayoftheweb.net, but obviously it also needs flagging up here.

I’ve tried to provide ways in which the news companies can adapt and evolve to embrace the new technology, but whether or not they’re capable of thinking in terms of changing quickly enough will be interesting…

I’d love to hear more thoughts on how applications like Twitter are affecting other people’s news diet…

Incidentally, you can see our first thoughts on earthquake messages on Twitter here. And it was online before the BBC, and around the same time as CNN!

As with the earthquakes in the UK and China, the first I heard about the earthquake today in America was on Twitter. Whereas most news sources will be busy subbing their efforts, people are updating Twitter whilst events are going on around them.
Great for anyone who wants to find out about the news as it happens - worrying for the people who could end up in danger because they’re glued to their PC/mobile instead of finding a doorway!