The world, brought to you by Twitter

how we live — By Bob Riel on January 6, 2009 at 4:59 pm

Following up a recent post of mine about technology and the world, here is another example of how the new social media is transforming the way in which we receive and utilize information. NPR just did a story on how Twitter and other such media are being used in the current Gaza conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.

The Gaza Strip may be closed to most traditional media, but the conflict there is still being reported — sometimes in cell phone interviews and through cell phone videos posted on YouTube — and increasingly on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

People on the ground are telling their stories in 140-character bursts — “tweets” — on Twitter.com, as Hamas rockets crash into Israeli towns and Israeli forces bomb targets in Gaza. Online media are conglomerating their information, and governments are getting into the act.

There are reports coming out from individuals in Gaza…

Al-Jazeera television features Twitter and text message updates in the War on Gaza section of its Web site, and it is plotting the information it gets on a map of Gaza and the surrounding areas. The map shows the locations of airstrikes, rocket attacks, Palestinian and Israeli casualties and other information based on cumulative reports.

Al-Jazeera’s Twitter account has grown to close to 3,500 subscribers in about a week, and many of those subscribers multiply that effect by passing on what they receive in Twitter and Facebook messages, blogs and other online forums.

And there is even a Twitter feed to tell the story from the point of view of the Israeli government…

Meanwhile, Israel’s consulate in New York City has launched a Twitter feed that posts the Israeli government side of the story and responds to questions from the public. The Israeli account has about 4,000 followers…

David Saranga, Israel’s consul for media and public affairs in New York, says his government started using the Internet and social media well before the conflict in Gaza.

“Public diplomacy means you have to reach the public — and if the public is changing its pattern of gathering news, we have to change the way we deliver our message,” he says.

It’s fascinating. News reporting will never be the same again.