The Power of Twitter

The world is a buzz right now withthe report of the death of Osama Bin Laden, the head of the notorious Al-Qaeda. It has been ten years since the fall of the world trade center towers in New York which caused the death of over 3000 people.The planning and funding for this terrible moment was known to come from Bin Laden himself with the support of Al-Qaeda.Since that day the American government has been looking for him and it seems that the have finally found him.

Do you know who was the first to report the death of Bin Laden? A newsworthy story that many people have been waiting for since September 11th, 2001. Was it CNN or Fox News?

No! It was Twitter! Do you still doubt the power of social media? There was much speculation as to what the president was going to talk about when the White House scheduled a press conference Sunday night. Press conferences are already unusual but to schedule one on a Sunday so late at night meant that there had to be something important that needed to be said!  And there was a lot of speculation flying around the social networks but through it all the former chief of staff for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Keith Urbahn tweeted:

‘So I am told by a reputable person thay have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.”

This is not the only time Twitter has been the first to spread the news about a major event and shows the power of social media. Twitter doesnt need the time that a news station would take to compile and show old footage of Bin Laden while news reporters ad lib around the fundamental details, all that was needed was a reputable twitter source amoung the thousands of tweets to be the first to break the news with a one liner.