This article was published on December 23, 2008

When Twitter becomes mainstream, we won’t miss anything


When Twitter becomes mainstream, we won’t miss anything

You might have heard about Mike Wilson, the Twitter user who was onboard of the Continental airlines 737 slid off the runway in Denver on Friday (38 people got hurt, nobody died). After his first tweet (pictured), he kept on sending updates on how the airline handled the aftermath.

Twitter / Mike Wilson: Holy fucking shit I wasbju ...

This guy is now a hero in the US. He gets interviewed by everybody from Fox News to the Guardian. All because he was the only passenger sending updates.

You could call Wilson a citizen journalist, but that’s dangerous. Before you know it, you find yourself once again in an endless discussion about the differences between journalists, bloggers, twitter users, and PR persons.

Therefor, I’d just like to say that when Twitter really goes mainstream – nothing in the western world will happen unnoticed. Bank robbery? Twitter user present! Political assassination? See the body on Twitpic! Think about how that will change the fine profession of reporting! As soon as you want to cover something, do a quick Twitter Search and find the eye witness stories.

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