Citizen Journalism Gets a Test

By Jake • June 25th, 2009 • 28 Comments

People report that Twitter had a brown/blackout during the MJ tweetsTwitter has a pretty impressive list of news stories its users have broken and covered more accurately than mainstream news outlets.

To name a few:

The immediacy and speed of updating Twitter when news happens around you makes, coupled with its network effects, make it a very good tool for spreading news before news reports can be produced and broadcast.

This afternoon may be a turning point for Twitter and citizen journalism.About 30 minutes ago, I saw a FriendFeed alert saying simply “RIP Michael Jackson”. This is big news, since after all, MJ is still the King of Pop, or at least no one has stepped up to take that crown.

I immediately went to see what was trending on Twitter, and sure enough, “rip michael jackson” was the top trending item, point to a sketchy report from TMZ posted at 3:20 Pacific time.

TMZ isn’t exactly a credible source IMO, so I went to CNN for the skinny. As of about 3:30, CNN.com was reporting MJ was admitted to the hospital for cardiac arrest. Odd.

After a refresh, the story changed from admitted to coma according to “sources”.

Finally, as I began to write this post, Twitter was already questioning the validity of the report, which lead me to start writing, and now, the LA Times has reported MJ’s death, but only after their servers took a header from all the Twitter traffic.

And now, CNN has updated the status to deceased as well, a full 20 or so minutes after TMZ broke the story with help from Twitter.

My timeline isn’t super accurate, and I’m sure there will be *numerous* posts on this trail of events in the next 24 hours.

So, what’s my angle?

Well it started out to be a snarky rant about TMZ and the sheep of Twitter, but now, I’m in full 180 mode to make myself look good.

Not really. I’m happy to admit I doubted the TMZ report and the initial tweets. Besides, I’ve used Celebrity Death Beeper (disclosure, I know the creator) for over a decade to stay on top of this type of, erm, news. That’s how I learned that Farrah Fawcett had died earlier today.

So, now the snarky tweets and goodbyes have started. This post (h/t Kasper Sorensen on FriendFeed) was pretty funny.

Image from Silicon Alley Insider

This is a clear win for citizen journalism over mainstream media. I guess journalistic integrity got in the way.

I use the term win loosely. It’s only a matter of time before someone cries wolf in a tweet, accidentally or intentionally, and Twitter trends wolf cries all over the place. I don’t think that’s good.

I don’t have any answers here. Citizen journalism and Twitter as its outlet definitely have a place in modern news reporting, but definitely don’t forget to add the salt.

Ack, even as I try to finish this post, Jeff Goldblum’s death is being reported on Twitter. I guess we’ll find out in a few minutes if that’s a wolf cry or a surreal combination of events.

Assuming Twitter and the ‘tubes can handle the traffic.


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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dave-Goldstick/502749470 Dave Goldstick

    Good article that helped me to understand the angle from your tweet. If my memory serves me correctly, I read that TMZ initially reported him as dead and then later stated he was in a coma when there was some level of uncertainty. I'd love to know when exactly he was proclaimed dead and when the TMZ report and the initial tweets came out.

    Crowds can be wrong, but they can be useful to get our attention.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dave-Goldstick/502749470 Dave Goldstick

    The Goldblum thing is a sick hoax. TweetDeck search on “Goldblum” reveals some url's that resolve to http://jeff.goldblum.mediafetcher.com/news/top_…. No confirmation anywhere. I think the crowd will come to its senses soon. :)

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    This isn't technically a wisdom of crowds exercise, since there wasn't a decision to be made, aside from believing or not.

    I didn't realize TMZ changed their initial assertion from dead to coma. Maybe they doubted their source, surprise :)

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    That whole thing smelled of a hoax from the start, considering the timing. I wonder who's behind it, seems like an attempt to drive traffic that succeeded. If so, it's hilarious to me that the Twitter traffic crushed the server.

  • joel garry

    Try googling heart attack or cold feet.

    “more accurately” my big hairy tuchus.

    I really doubt the accuracy of the Iranian election riots tweets, too. The gummint repressiveness almost guarantees the repressed feel they need to exaggerate. Not necessarily the original tweeters, but those who pass it along. And of course, some of the original tweeters are going to be speaking through emotional filters, and some will rationalize that gummint actions allow or require exaggeration. ” We know it is worse than we see“.

    I worked with a lot of Persian programmers who fled persecution after 1979. The ladies were especially happy to be out of there.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Mmm-k. Twitter is good at reporting news, e.g. there's a riot, there's an earthquake, there's a gunman shooting people, someone's dead, this place is on fire, etc.

    Beyond the factual nature of the tweets, and yes, they are frequently factual (see examples), the emotional nature of being caught up in the news is bound to come across in tweets.

  • Oliver

    Not quite sure that I would call tweeting “RIP MJ” journalism, especially if I just rehash what I just read on TMZ or some other tweet. Then again, I also wouldn't call a lot of what I see on TV these days journalism either.

    How does one measure the accuracy of twitter vs. the mainstream media? What is the unit of measure you'd use for that? Just wondering… (and again, I am not a big fan of the accuracy/quality of many mainstream media outlets).

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    The problem is that journalism is increasingly more about speed and scoop and less about accuracy, which is why services like Twitter have marginalized reporting the news.

    The only way to measure accuracy is in hindsight, so based on the examples I've given and others, Twitter does a good job. This isn't a good way to measure, since no one tracks false reports on Twitter, or at least, they're quickly forgotten.

    I'm not advocating either medium as better.

  • noelportugal

    Google (youtube) released today http://www.youtube.com/reporterscenter a channel to teach you how to be a “citizen” reporter…maybe the tips will apply to twitter as well

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    I saw that comes across one of my feeds today. Can’t be by accident

    The “Tips from Bob Woodward” sounds interesting re. confidential sources. I wonder how long Deep Throat would have stayed confidential in this era.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://twitter.com/andrewsaunders_ Andrew Saunders

    I think if there are a significant volume of original/unique tweets about a particular event, then that lends it credibility. When Melbourne recently experienced an earthquake, I tweeted it almost immediately and then watched as many other original tweets were published. Re-tweeting on the other hand, lends no discernible credibility. Not aware of any ways to figure this out from trending services.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • joel garry

    Twitter is good for faking a massive net attack.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • Gary

    News isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation. The timeline is an important differentiator. The death of a celebrity is a spike, and doesn’t require any in-depth understanding. Similar with a plane crash. The traditional news organisations are better suited to the challenges of reporting extended events, like an election campaign or the financial crisis.
    Their problem is that, without the revenue from the ’spike’ news, can they sustain the in-depth coverage ?
    Personally if ‘citizen journalism’ can kill off the gossip sheets and paparazzi, I’m all in favour of it.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Hmm, that would be helpful, i.e. tracking trends based on original vs. retweeted content. Twitter (and Summize before they were acquired) never published the algorithm for trending topics.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Yeah, Twitter is a great way to launch a DDOS attack. Just tweet something juicy and plausible with a shortened link and sit back while the site you targeted gets pounded by curious rubberneckers.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Agreed, journalism isn’t just reporting the news, it’s analysis and access to sources that Twitter can never replicate. Even longer format blogging can’t hope to replicate the immediacy of Twitter.

    I share your concern about spikes driving ad revenue, and somehow I doubt that we’ll see the end of paparazzi and gossip rags anytime soon.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • Jim

    I think it’s great that citizen journalism exists, and that the web provides such a great publishing platform for it.

    The agendas pushed by the mainstream media outlets are often pretty biased. I guess my point is slightly OT compared to the one you’re making – but if you look are projects like IndyMedia, ElectronicIntifada, MediaLens etc, they offer a different slant to that offered by Sky / CNN / BBC, which would never get reported on mainstream media because it would alienate advertisers, and cause a massive upset if they challenged the status quo.

    Of course, there are always going to be useless rubbish posed as news, but I guess people learn to be discerning… mostly!

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    I’m also glad we have a platform for citizen journalism, and I agree that advertising skews what is reported by the major news outlets. I hope my post didn’t come off as against citizen journalism.

    The Web provides a great populist tool that produces awesome stuff like citizen journalism, but one side-effect to populism is it doesn’t discern, leaving you to sort out the gold from the crap.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • Jim

    Sorry Jake – no criticism intended. It was more that I was probably using your post as a chance to get on my soapbox and drone on about something completely unrelated. Sorry about that. Great content as ever Jake – thanks!

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    No worries at all, I was just rechecking myself to make sure I hadn’t come off as anti-citizen journalism. Your point is valid to this topic, which isn’t just about Twitter.

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://empoprise-bi.blogspot.com/ John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises)

    While I’ll grant that Twitter provides a way to disseminate a message quickly, the issues with rapid reporting of false items are not unique to the 21st century. Take the 1835 newspaper reports about the discovery of life on the moon. No electronic technology was used to disseminate this information, but the fact that it was a multi-part series helped to guarantee that the newspaper would benefit from an increase in readership.

    Lou Hampton wonders how people could have been so gullible as to believe that story, and then concludes: “The gullibility gene, by the way, was discovered by researchers at the UCLA Medical Center in 2003. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2005.”

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

  • http://theappslab.com/ Jake

    Sure, Orson Wells did it in the 30s with War of the Worlds. A combination of faster media to spread information and way more people around to spread it makes this a bigger issue today.

    Plus, the gullibility gene has been found to be dominant, meaning they are all around us, like zombies . . .

    This comment was originally posted on Oracle AppsLab

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