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

Twitter and #mumbai: Observations, Reflections, and Lessons Learned - Presentation Transcript

Munindra Khaund TWITTER AND #MUMBAI  OBSERVATIONS  REFLECTIONS  LESSONS LEARNED 1

Munindra Khaund Incidents & Primary News Source 2

Munindra Khaund What’s to Come  What is Twitter?  Twitter at an incident: #mumbai  Observations  Reflections  Lessons learned 3

Munindra Khaund 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]  Why use Twitter?  How does it work?  Learn more about Twitter 4

Munindra Khaund #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 contact with family and friends in India 5

Munindra Khaund #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 want politics out of the picture  Locals angry with media references to “India’s 9/11”  Resources for assistance assembled; using retweets  Role of an enabler 6

Munindra Khaund #mumbai: Twitterrific 7

Munindra Khaund #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 news media  No ground news nor discussions  November 27th [night]  Quality of tweets improves 8

Munindra Khaund #mumbai: spy 9

Munindra Khaund #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  Biased reporting  #mumbai vs #bombay 10

Munindra Khaund #mumbai: Analysis of Tweets High Low US Central Time Zone 11

Munindra Khaund #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 12

Munindra Khaund 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 13

Munindra Khaund Dedicated to the people of Mumbai ...with gratitude to fellow tweeps, Twitter, Twitterrific, and spy. If you have any questions or comments, please send me an email - Munindra.Khaund@uis.edu University of Illinois at Springfield 14