Twitter — a postmodern source of information
With the arrival of the age of social media, traditional sources of information were complemented by new sources, characteristic of online technologies. These new sources are becoming increasingly important. Given its nature, Twitter is particularly well-suited to reporting on natural and other disasters, demonstrations, riots, wars, unexpected and rapidly changing events, with which the traditional media often can no longer keep up.
As any other source of information, Twitter is not perfect. There are fake accounts, misleading twits, hacked official accounts of people or institutions, unconfirmed pieces of news, confabulations and digitally modified photographs or films. “Twitter? I won’t touch it. It’s all garbage,” wrote one media expert. However, Twitter is a source of information, both personal and impersonal, official and unofficial, found and created, a source of both first- and second-hand information; it is a postmodern source, in which information flows on a scale hitherto unknown in the traditional media.