Twitter - The Fastest Way to Get Informed (or Misinformed)

Many, and I include myself in this camp, are finding Twitter a great way to find out about breaking news.  For example, noticing that Michael Jackson was a "trending topic" on Twitter.  When I clicked I found out he had died.  I also noticed from a friend's Tweet that Jeff Goldblum had died - which of course he hadn't, as it turn out.

Moral?  Twitter is the fastest way to get informed...or misinformed.

Harry McCracken wrote about this on Technologizer and I particularly like his lessons:

1) Part of the reason why information travels quickly on Twitter is that it’s not fact-checked. (Or more precisely, it’s fact-checked after the fact, when people realize the original tweets were wrong.)

2) Part of the reason news travels a bit more slowly via old-media sources is that it is fact-checked.

3) If a single person you know and trust tweets something that sounds unlikely, it’s more likely to be true than if 500 random strangers tweet it. But check it anyway.

4) If a huge story breaks on Twitter, give the “old” Web ten minutes to catch up. If neither CNN.com, NYTimes.com, or MSNBC.com has any mention, Twitter probably got it wrong.

5) I think Twitter, or Twitter-like services, will eventually go a long way towards solving this by figuring out how to weight the contributions of the most reliable members the heaviest, so random people believing everything they hear don’t spread falsehoods quite as fast.

6) Imperfect though Twitter may be, I love it. But I consider it a source of news leads, not news.

7) I’m sorry to see Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett leave us, and relieved that Jeff Goldblum hasn’t.

Good solid advice about the strengths and weaknesses of Twitter.  Very glad Jeff Goldblum is still with us!

UPDATE:

Have you seen the hilarious Colbert video of Jeff Goldblum confirming his own death?

- Peter H. Berge

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