Tweet, Tweet, Tweet.

For somebody who is a, self confessed, social media junky, i was actually quite late onto Twitter.

I'm afraid that i was one of those people who, initially, thought that Twitter couldn't possibly be of any use to me. After all, what use is just 140 characters to somebody who regularly makes 10 minute long videos for YouTube, Or, whose blog posts could probably test the patience of a saint?

Yes, i was one of those who said, or says "I don't want to know what you had for breakfast" etc etc.
That is a common argument given by non Twitterers and i even heard this very point made by the actor Sir Michael Caine just last week. In his defence, Michael Caine has now joined the Twitterati and, just like me, has realised the error of his ways.

I was dragged, virtually kicking and screaming, onto Twitter in September, 2008.
That may well seem like a long time ago, especially in the world of the Internet. But, as somebody who, generally, signs up to most of the new social media sensations, i was actually quite late off of the mark.
Most of my online friends were already well and truly addicted to Twitter by then and it was in fact down to them that i signed up in the first place.

My moment of epiphany came during a road trip, with some fellow YouTubers, in the USA, during 2008..
It was during that trip that i saw, at first hand, the way that Twitter could and did connect people. It wasn't all about your choice of breakfast cereal after all.

Obviously, since that day, i've never looked back.

Like most Twitter users, the way that i use Twitter has evolved over the years and has led me in some interesting directions. Something that i may well talk about in future blog posts.

But, Twitter, the way that it is now used and how my own use has evolved, was brought home to me last week, when i was caught up in a local news story.
I have talked about aspects of this in a separate blog post.

What i realised after that event, was the way that Twitter is used, by myself and others, to spread the news and our coverage of it.
We can probably all think of recent major news stories in which Twitter has been used in this way. But, it really brings it home to you, when you are a part of it yourself.

I was very impresessed by the way that the vast majority of news organisations, radio and tv stations were using, watching and interacting onTwitter. It has become a major source of news for us all. This is something that has really crept up on everybody and something that i'm sure the founders of Twitter never considered when they first started the service.

Twitter has now become, for many including myself, a primary way of communicating with friends, family, contacts and even complete strangers.
It has also become my primary source of news coverage, from right across the world.

Twitter also links me to viral videos, interesting newspaper and magazine articles, blog posts, local events and much, much more that i would never have seen, or heard about, otherwise.

I, for one, would never have expected all of this when i, very tentatively, signed up to Twitter back in September 2008.
I guess that this just goes to show that things are not always what they seem?

If you have your own Twitter story to tell, please let us know. We'd love to hear it.

By the way, what did you have for breakfast?

Citizen Journalists

Yesterday, i became a citizen journalist.

At around 6am yesterday, my wife told me that the radio was reporting that our local pier, here in Hastings, was on fire. So, being the social media junky that i am, i got up, grabbed my iPhone and digital camera and ran out the door as fast as i could. I didn't even brush my teeth!

Now, at this point, my only thought was to take some photos and maybe some video footage, mainly for my own use. If it was any good, i might then post it onto my various social media sites, just in case anyone may be interested. I didn't even bother to take my main video camera.
I also didn't know if the radio reports were true, or not.

It was only when i got down onto the seafront and saw the full extent of the fire, that i realised that this was something a little different. This was big.
As somebody said to me later in the day. Somebody that i only "met" yesterday via Twitter by the way. I was now recording history.
I can't say that i fully realised this at the time. But, i did know, straight away, that i had to record what i could and then pass it on.

So, i quickly took some photos, from a distance and then, literally, jogged along the seafront to get as near to the burning pier as i could.
As soon as i got close to the pier, i took some video footage with my phone and also some more photo's.
I then did something that i would not even have thought about doing, even a few weeks ago. I recorded an AudioBoo podcast
Somehow, i just knew that i should record something, describing what it was i was seeing right in front of my eyes.

So, where did that urge to record this historic event come from. Especially the AudioBoo?

I fully believe that it is my time using social media that did it. Somehow, using social media had prepared me for doing exactly what i did yesterday. Using social media had taught me how to do it. What to record, what to photograph, what to say and how.

Yes, other people were taking photographs and even video footage. But, as far as i'm aware, i was the only person who intended to share them in the way that i did. And i'm almost certain that i was the only person who thought to record some kind of audio commentary as well.
As i suggested earlier. I would never have thought about doing that, if i didn't use AudiBoo in the first place.

It was only then that i realised that there was no media presence around at all. No reporters, no tv crews, no microphones, or obvious news cameramen, or photographers.
I had suddenly become a citizen journalist.
Myself and my fellow onlookers were the only people recording this piece of local history and national news.

It was then that i realised that i needed to get home and get my footage, photo's and audio "out there", as soon as i could.

The first item i posted was the AudioBoo. Within 5 minutes of it going live, i receieved an email from AudioBoo, saying that they had "Featured" my post on their front page.
I then posted some of my photos onto TwitpPic. I followed that by quickly editing my video footage and uploading it to YouTube. All of these uploads were then linked to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.

To cut a long story short. Within an hour, i had been contacted by the BBC, the Brighton Argus newspaper and my local newspaper, who even came to my house to collect my video footage. I was also newly "followed" on Twitter by several radio stations, news organisations, reporters and local people.

My photo's, video and AudioBoo were Tweeted around the World. As well as being used and linked to on many websites. Including the Brighton Argus website, where one of my photos was used as a headline image.


As somebody else, commenting on my AudioBoo, said to me yesterday, "This really shows how journalism exists within the hands of everyone who has the technology"


I couldn't have put it better myself and this goes to show that we are all now potential citizen journalists. We are the people who are normally first on the scene of any major incident, or news story.


Citizen journalism and social media have combined to break and cover major news stories such as the protests in Iran and the Hudson River plane crash, amongst others.


And apart from enabling us to be the first to report the news to the world. Our continued use of social media is actually training us to do so.


We have the technology. So, let's use it.


Just use it wisely and safely please.