Skeptics of twitter will spend boundless energy on discouraging it's use and dismissing it's value. Their argument based on the belief that the tool is used primarily as a means to promote ones self and in particular, the mundane aspects of ones day. However, the value of twitter as a platform truly transcends that of Facebook style status updates. Twitter offers an outlet for all people to become citizen journalists and break up-to-the-minute news. It allows us to connect with politicians and celebrities with whom we would otherwise have had no level of conversation with. It also offers an opportunity to learn about topical issues through use of the search function.

The immediacy of Twitter has allowed for access to groundbreaking news from around the world, even before it has been picked up by traditional media outlets, such as television networks and radio stations. What follows are some examples of how twitter has been used to break and share up to the minute news:

In November 2008 twitter saw a flurry of texts offering accounts of the terrorist attack in Mumbai, as the tragedy unfolded. Soon after, twitter was used as a means of communicating the urgent need for blood donors to assist with those injured in the attacks (source).

January 15 2009 saw Janis Krums posting a photograph of the US Airways flight that crashed into the Hudson river, he was soon contacted by television networks to offer an eyewitness account of the events.

At London's G20 demonstrations in April 2009, Alok Jha reported on the Police tactic of kettling demonstrators and noted that those disallowed to leave the guarded pen outside of the Bank of England included accredited press (Alok Jha is a science and environment correspondent at The Guardian).

Examples of this sort of news reporting are limitless and citizen journalism will continue to see social networks like Twitter at the forefront of eyewitness accounts on breaking news stories from across the globe. For this reason, we will continue to turn to online for the latest news.



Images by mfilej and treslola.


As well as offering citizen news reporting, twitter is also a great tool for communication with those who we may otherwise have the opportunity to reach. From Ashton Kutcher to the Mayor of London, The X Factor to the United Nations - everyone who is anyone is using twitter to share with the world, 140 characters at a time. And you too can use Twitter to share with them, in fact, it would be inopportune not to.

Let's consider the ways that we could make best use of this dynamic online tool: from tweeting a politician or ambassador to act on pressing issues to sharing petitions and promoting causes - twitter has the power to transform and we, as individuals can provoke transformation.

Tweeting a Treaty, an Oxfam initiative held at the Beekman Hotel, just uptown from the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, was an event that saw international diplomacy and social media collide. Speakers from Avaaz, Witness and Social Change Camp as well as Ambassadors to the UN from both Netherlands and the United Kingdom gathered and shared how they were able to use social media as part of their humanitarian and diplomatic outreach.

Avaaz is a global movement with a simple goal 'to close the gap between the world we have, and the world most people everywhere want'. Brett Soloman spoke of their campaigns which
have seen Avaaz members rapidly responding to calls to demonstrate on urgent humanitarian issues, from petitioning for justice in Guinea to Climate Change demonstrations that saw Gordon Brown agreeing to attend Copenhagen. Avaaz are leading the way when it comes to global humanitarian calls to action.

Bukeni Waruzi from Witness, a website that 'uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations', spoke about The Hub. The Hub, he said, is essentially 'a humanitarian youtube', where users are able to watch and upload videos to create global awareness for humanitarian causes or to share their own human rights stories.

UK Ambassador to the United Nations for Multilateral Arms Controls and Disarmament is particularly passionate about twitter as a means to reach an audience that has opted in to the information he is sharing on twitter. In a separate conversation with John Duncan that took place earlier in the week in the United Nations delegates lounge, Ambassador Duncan spoke of the twitter as a very powerful tool with international reach that allowed for the formation of relationships, but not before recommending his Twitter client of choice, Hoot Suite. Duncan said Twitter was 'unlike the press', explaining that it had allowed him to reach '700 people who are articulate and informed and interested in what I want to say'.

John Duncan speaks further on 'digital diplomacy' and his use of social media in the video below.

So how can you make greater use of twitter, right now? The ways are many and varied but why not start by tweeting a petition? David Miliband will meet with Hillary Clinton this Sunday and he needs to persuade her that the United States should support a strong Arms Trade Treaty. You can show your support by clicking the little red button below - tweet your support, click now:

Act.ly is a fantastic tool by which to tweet for change - check it out, tweet your cause and encourage your followers to do so too.


How are you using twitter?