Peer-ing into the news with twitter.

I registered on twitter about twelve months ago, but to be honest I don't think I really understood it. It was like standing in a room that everyone said was crammed with people, but with all the lights out and a set of earplugs in. 

Unsatisfying, disappointing and not a little disconcerting.

The simple problem was that I didn't know how to engage. I wasn't sure what was expected of me, what the point was or what I could (or should) expect of everyone else. 

Fast foward about eight months and something (I wish I could remember what) prompted me to revisit my stagnant twitter account. It could have been the moment-by-moment reporting of the bushfires in California or the use of twitter by the Obama campaign. Whatever the reason, when I did return to twitter a quick google search showed me that in a very short time things had moved on apace. There was now an almost daunting plethora of advice on how to use Twitter as well as ettiquette tips and tools that could help you ease your way into the 'twitterverse'. Upon closer inspection these articles appeared to come from two distinct sources:

• Bloggers/Social media fans who used twitter, were passionate about its benefits and were promoting the medium both for their own ends and for the development of the 'community'.

• 'Traditional media' journalists who fell into two camps. 

1. There were the  breathlessly enthusiastic who reposted the bloggers tips and tools with what seemed an almost obsessive desire to be 'on board' with the 'next big thing'  
   
2. Then there were those who were so downright dismissive or damning as to appear unbalanced in their irrational hatred of twitter and it's uses.
   

Keen to get on with Twitter, see what all the fuss was about and what I'd been missing; I took full advantage of both groups. The Guardian and the Telegraph provided handy 'get started' articles and the blogosphere provided the rest. Not to mention the frequently quoted, linked and promoted applications and tools designed to make the twitter experience a richer one in every way.

Within a few weeks I was up and running with an active account and, having followed advice from those in the know, found a group of people to follow who were 'influential' in areas of interest to me. There weren't that many people listening to me yet, but I was getting regular updates from a group of interesting influencers and opinion formers.

It was around this time that I realised that Twitter was starting to change the way I behaved online. An avid reader, browser and devourer of aggregated news - I was spending less and less time on these sites. I was getting more up to date and RELEVANT stories from the group I followed on twitter. 

I began to understand the 'marmite effect' that twitter was having amongst traditional media. 

Thanks to twitter, news is being curated and edited by the people, the news readers not the news writers if you will. In the same way that I get music recommendations, based on my likes or interests, from last.fm or spotify.com - I now get a large part of my world view curated for me by those I follow on twitter. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. A quick look at stories such as the Hudson River plane crash illustrate how powerful this communication tool has become as a result of its low bar to entry (anyone can post a story, from their mobile, as soon as it happens). For traditional news media this must be a scary proposition. The result seems to be a rush to proclaim the new (media) messiah or denounce the devil of triviality and narcissism. Whichever best suits your personality or world view, it appears. 

Interestingly, thinking back, I got my first 'in' to Twitter from the traditional news media and whilst I might get the 'breaking news' from my group of 'twits' we are almost always sharing links to 'established' news sources.

I wonder if it is time that more news media outlets took a balanced view of twitter and saw it for what it is. A large community, chatting constantly. Twitter isn't the news, it doesn't make the news and it can't reliably report it. But it can help break it and monitor it. With journalists on board it could be the best, peer moderated, aggregated news feed available.