Yesterday morning I woke to find that former Pakistani president Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated. Found out on Twitter. Now Twitter didn’t break the story, nor did Twitter give extensive coverage by itself.
But Twitter as a utility showed how it is becoming has become an extremely vital vehicle of the spreading of information. People were sharing news articles, providing links, giving others access to the latest information.
If the internet is a tangled web of computer networks, then Twitter is a tangled web of human relationships and conversations. By the time I write an post this blog entry, news of an event could have reached thousands of people.
Businesses must realize that in the world of Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku, and others rumors, customer complaints, etc. can spread like wildfire. People can read, send, link, point to, blog about, forward, comment on YOU within a matter of a half an hour.
This goes back to the concept of reputation management. It’s a whole new ballgame and I bet most PR firms and departments haven’t a clue. It will take a few disasters for it too sink in.
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