Seconds after the earth started rattling in California Tuesday morning, Twitter user @thevixy tweeted, “earthquake”. This was the first public notice of the tremor. Within minutes, thousands of users were updating their Twitter status to inform others of their experience and condition. It wasn’t until 4 ½ minutes after the quake when the NBC affiliate in San Diego finally reported the seism.
This is not the first time Twitter has been useful during times of disaster. Twitter was set ablaze during California’s October wildfires. Is tweeting the latest (and perhaps, greatest) form of citizen journalism?
Real-time updates and genuine reactions are qualities big media outlets struggle to provide.
