Following the Mumbai shootings...so you don't have to.

So, a terrorist attack hits Mumbai, killing c 80 people so far and causing mayhem. Having been in a situation like that before, I can imagine the anguish and fear.

But what do the social media techies crow about - why, that the news got through on Twitter first of course! Hooray. We beat the silly old Mainstream media. No one knows the ins and outs, the whys and wherefores of course - that boring stuff we leave to MSM reporters - but we wonz coz we wuz firzt!

Even worse to watch is the faux sympathy treacled out by wannabe Twittermedia personalities trying to mainline themselves into the lifestream of other peoples misery and worry. Digital rubbernecking......

Update - this comment by Tweetip (Twitter stream aggregator) here sums up Twitter as a news system:

1st there is signal, then a bit of noise, then the bandwagon

I think that's it - Twitter will tell you something is up, but soon after that it gets swamped by noise and then people jumping on for their own ends. I know I'd do my Noo Meedja credentials far more good by crying out that Twitter is The Best News since the Ghent from Aix, but the honest truth is it ain't - fortunately the BBC is on Twitter too!

Update 2 - been musing on this - what is needed is a filter so that people who do have something useful to say (the signal) get through, while those who don't (the majority) get stripped out the twt stream. But how to do it....

Update 3 - The Indian government asked people to stop twittering. Says it all.