Twitter and #mumbai:
Observations, Reflections,
and Lessons Learned
Munindra Khaund

Incidents & Primary News
Source
Radio Television WWW Twitter

What’s to Come
• What is Twitter?
• Twitter at an incident: #mumbai
• Observations
• Reflections
• Lessons learned

What is Twitter?
“Twitter is a service for
friends, family, and co–
workers to communicate
and stay connected
through the exchange of
quick, frequent answers
to one simple question:
What are you
doing?” [Source: twitter.com]

#mumbai: Overview of Tweets
• Followed tweets for
~30-hours, starting
November 26th, 2008
• Via iPhone, Used
Twitterrific and spy
• No access to cable
news channel
• Limited telephone

#mumbai: Unfolding Tweets
• November 26th [early evening]
•Precise developments in Mumbai
•Approximately 80 tweets per second
[Source: CNN]
•Camaraderie amongst tweeps
• November 26th [night]
•Locals angry with politicians and

#mumbai: On Twitterrific

#mumbai: Unfolding Tweets
• November 27th [morning]
•Reliable tweets of developments on the
ground
• November 27th [afternoon/evening]
•Mainstream media begins utilizing
Twitter
•Quality of tweets declines
•Tweets are primarily reports from local

#mumbai: On spy

#mumbai: Observations
• Content came from several sources
• Role of ethics - guiding principles of
journalists
• Citizens became more powerful than
traditional media houses
• Traditional media houses has catching
up to do:
• late entry into Twitter

#mumbai: Analysis of Tweets
Number of Tweets Tweets from India Quality of Tweets
High
Low
26th early evening 26th night 27th morning/afternoon 27th evening/night
US Central Time Zone

#mumbai: Reflections
• Role of different tweeps - reporters,
enablers, etc.
• Few reliable tweeps - @arunshanbhag,
@shahpriya, @sujeet, and a few others
• Role of photo journalists
• Growth of rumors and its correction
• Growth of citizen journalism

Twitter: Lessons Learned
• Being succinct in tweets
• Citing sources [for relevance]
• Ways to observe + track + follow
reliable tweeps
• Role of Twitter vs Twihrl
• Role of iPhone vs laptop/desktop
• Role of Twitter in academe

Dedicated to the people of Mumbai
...with gratitude to fellow tweeps, Twitter,
Twitterrific, and spy.
If you have any questions or comments,
please send an email -
Munindra.Khaund@uis.edu
University of Illinois Springfield