Grading Social Media coverage of Mumbai

The recent tragedy in Mumbai offered the latest chance to assess the continued evolution of the role of Social Media in the coverage of major breaking news stories.

As noted on the TechCrunch blog, in the early hours of the attacks there was more information on Twitter than on CNN, and photo sharing site Flickr had some of the first images from the scene.

On Poynter, Amy Gahran noted the diversity of Social Media coverage of the attacks, from Twitter Tweets to Blogs, Flickr photos and Wikipedia entries.

In the aftermath, CNN posted a story on "Tweeting the Terror" in which it correctly pointed out the pitfalls and failings of social media "coverage." The story notes how false rumors were posted, and then rapidly repeated, spreading like a 'Tweet' wildfire reminiscent of that old campfire circle game.

Professional journalists will appreciate how Social Media coverage of Mumbai illustrated the dynamic tension that always exists between being fast and being accurate. Clearly, social media - populated by 'civilians' - can easily err on the side of rumor spreading.

Following up on that point, Gahran authored a second blog post suggesting some "teachable moments" provided by the use of Twitter during the Mumbai attacks. For journalists, she throws down the challenge to teach/correct 'tweeters' who are merely repeating, by querying their source; and, when errors are found, tweeting the source of those errors to alert them.

Mindy McAdams, in her blog post Twitter, Mumbai, and 10 facts about online journalism now, nicely recaps some lessons reinforced by the Mumbai story, among them: In this era, major breaking news will be reported online before on-air; non-journalists will be the first to report it; cell phones have become the first-responder reporting tool; and, cell phones with camera/video/internet connection that can publish remotely are the reporting killer app when on location during breaking news.

Clearly, the general public - untrained in journalism - committed typical novice errors in repeating unconfirmed rumors during the Mumbai attacks. But no journalist interested in using all ethical means available to get the full story fast...can deny that Social Media represent both a resource and a publishing tool for a new era of journalism. Trained journalists are in the ideal position to use those tools well, and teach that practice to others.