“If this is the future of journalism, I don’t think CNN has anything to worry about just yet”

Interesting post by Alan at Broadstuff, reacting to the “Twitter is the future of news!” stuff going round the internet at the moment:

the bulk, the 90%, was pure cr*p, with stuff such as:

– Wild surmises to gain attention
– Re-tweeting mainstream media in an endless circle jerk
– Mediawhores jumping on the bandwagon with crocodile tears and faux sympathy
– Hatemail
– Hatemail to the hatemailers
– People arguing with any or all of the above

…this was not news – it was a hose of sewage, in which the few nuggets of real news were virtually impossible to pick out.

By happy coincidence, I wrote a typically cheery column about the very same thing in the last issue of .net (it’s not online yet, sorry):

…More than anything, I’m tired of the sheer self-absorption of the electronic elite. This month they’re all twittering, so when something interesting happens they hear about it on Twitter, because of course that’s where they are. Within minutes, Twitter is the future of news! …If this time next month the technorati are drinking Special Brew with tramps and they see something interesting on a cardboard box, drinking Special Brew with tramps will be – yes! – the future of news!


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