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.

And if it were possible for him to the people.

The above statement was copied/pasted directly from Twitter’s Everyone feed.

Reading this sentence (we’ll skip the grammar lesson for now) got me thinking about a question I constantly find myself asking: is the internet, specifically social networking, making us dumber?

We’ve become accustomed to receiving information in small, incoherent portions void of any context. Quantity has been prioritized over quality. An “absorb everything, digest nothing” attitude seems to taken over this generation of internet users (I fall into this trap more than I care to admit).

I can’t help but wonder if this A.D.D. approach to communicating and gathering information is restricting our ability to process the information that is presented to us. If so, is there a trade-off going on? What, if anything, are we gaining by giving up this crucial skill?

Thoughts?

Social networking

I know this isn’t related to photography, but in light of my Twitter experiment I thought I’d point out a fascinating article on the New York Times website: Brave New World of Digital Intimacy.

It takes a look at the phenomenon that is social networking, specifically microblogging, as well as its effects on those involved: reading/posting every mundane detail of our lives, maintaining an identity, all the while maintaining our privacy (and how important is privacy, really?). I was particularly interested in one of the closing remarks:

“It is easy to become unsettled by privacy-eroding aspects of awareness tools. But there is another — quite different — result of all this incessant updating: a culture of people who know much more about themselves. Many of the avid Twitterers, Flickrers and Facebook users I interviewed described an unexpected side-effect of constant self-disclosure. The act of stopping several times a day to observe what you’re feeling or thinking can become, after weeks and weeks, a sort of philosophical act. It’s like the Greek dictum to “know thyself,” or the therapeutic concept of mindfulness. (Indeed, the question that floats eternally at the top of Twitter’s Web site — “What are you doing?” — can come to seem existentially freighted. What are you doing?) Having an audience can make the self-reflection even more acute, since, as my interviewees noted, they’re trying to describe their activities in a way that is not only accurate but also interesting to others: the status update as a literary form.”

It makes sense, in a weird sort of way…

First impressions with Twitter

Megan posted a comment on my last Twitter post, and I was just about to publish a response in the comments when I decided now might be a good time to make a new post talking about my first impressions.

I’ll start by answering Megan’s question. The cell phone feature is optional. You can choose to post to your account via a text message from your phone (which is pretty cool, by the way), but can also opt out of receiving text messages from Twitter when someone else posts an update. I haven’t played with this feature much, but it sounds like you can also restrict the text messages to a small group of people.

I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around this whole thing. I hear people in the tech community talking about Twitter as if it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. I don’t see it. Yet. I’m really not a fan of its intended use: to answer the question, “what are you doing?” (paraphrased from their introductory video). That said, people are finding other uses for it (intra-office communication, community discussions, etc.) that I think are really exciting. It would probably be easier to get into if people I know were to join (hint, hint)…

I just joined Twitter. Yipee.

Yes, you heard me. I’m sure those of you who know me have already found humor in my hypocrisy, as I have been known to badmouth Twitter and all those other “micro-blog” sites.

I reluctantly jumped on the blogging bandwagon almost a year ago; I didn’t want to be one of those people on a soapbox divulging every detail of my life to anyone willing to take the time to listen. I’ve since found practical uses for my blog that don’t directly contradict my anti-social tendencies (I like my privacy, sue me).

Enter micro-blogging. Who the hell wants to know what I’m eating for dinner? For that matter, why the hell would I take the time to announce to the world what I’m eating for dinner? Watching a movie? Going to the bathroom? This is my fundamental objection to the whole thing.

After hearing what people have to say about Twitter it got me thinking. This could be an amazing catalyst for discussions/critiques/etc. Twitter is essentially a public form of instant messenging, and with the option to have messages sent directly to (or from) a cell phone, it’s incredibly convenient. It has the potential to be an extremely powerful communication medium and I’m curious to see where it goes.

And so, I joined Twitter on a trial basis. I make no promises that I’ll stick with it, but I do want to give it an honest try. If you’d like to join me in this experiment, please do so. Sign up for a free account and follow me.

I’d also like to hear from anyone who already has a Twitter account. How do you like it? How often do you post updates? What uses have you found for it?