Explosion in downtown Bozeman. Twitterers first on the scene.

Above image was pulled from a TwitPic post by @craigdugas

I experienced the power of social media first-hand this morning.

At 8:12AM Boodles, a very nice, albeit expensive, restaurant/bar in Historic Downtown Bozeman, MT exploded. Two more bars, a children’s apparel store, and an art gallery were also destroyed. At the time of this writing, a gas leak is the suspected cause.

Where did I get this information? Twitter. Thanks to Twitter, I was aware of many of the details (I had even seen some early photos of the destruction via TwittPic) long before any of the local news and radio began reporting it.

As the day progresses, I continue to receive tweets with new information as it becomes available. Twitter users among the likes of @manifestphil and @bozchron have taken it upon themselves to cover the situation, using the #bozexplod hashtag, with a level of precision and speed that rivals the local media. They are reporting not only the current state of the disaster, but also providing phone numbers and other information for those in need of assistance as well as those who would like to help out.

While I had heard myriad commentaries about Twitter and its usefulness in a reporting context, I had never experienced this phenomenon until today. Social media has completely transformed the way news is delivered to the masses. We no longer have to wait for our local news agencies; we get the news as it happens. This is truly an amazing concept.

Update: For more information about the explosion, see the Bozeman Daily Chronicle’s story here.
Update: Updates from the Billings Gazette.
Update: Go here for updates from the city of Bozeman.
Update: Collection of photos and video here.