Is Twitter the news outlet for the 21st century?

NEW YORK – Cassy Hayes and Jasmine Coleman were among the first fans to arrive outside the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center inLos Angeles where Michael Jackson was brought and later pronounced dead.

How had Hayes, 25, and Coleman, 21, heard the news so quickly?

Twitter.

Twitter’s constantly updating record of up-to-the-minute reaction has in some instances threatened to usurp media coverage of breaking news. It has also helped many celebrities, athletes and politicians bypass the media to get their message directly to their audience.

Make no mistake about it, Twitter has in many ways been a boon to the media. It’s one more way a story might go viral and it’s arguably the best way for a news outlet to get closer to their readership. Most outlets now have a presence on Twitter with a feed directing readers to their respective sites.

But even in an Internet world that has for years eroded the distance between media and consumer, Twitter is a jolt of democratization to journalism.

To date, the most salient, powerful example of Twitter’s influence has been Iranian protesters using the service (among many other methods) to assemble marches against what they feel has been an unjust election.

Early in the protests, the State Department even urged Twitter to put off maintenance that would have temporarily cut off service. Twitter is difficult for governments to block because tweets — 140 characters or less — can be uploaded from mobile phones like a text message. (The Iranian government has nevertheless often succeeded in blocking Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.)

Further, many Americans were upset at what they considered CNN’s thin early coverage of the revolution inIran and voiced their complaints (where else?) on Twitter. Some said they preferred news on Twitter to the cable news network.

Twitter also produced eyewitness accounts of the Mumbai terrorist attacks last year. And when the US Airways jetliner crashed into New York’s Hudson River, Twitter was among the first places photos of the landing were linked.

Many users have become accustomed to clicking on Twitter when news breaks. There, they can find a sea of reaction, commentary and links to actual articles.

The popular technology blog TechCrunch recently questioned whether Twitter is “the CNN of the new media generation.”

Older adults among newer members on social networking sites

By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

Move over kiddos, social networking is attracting new — and older — devotees, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released Wednesday. It finds that 35% of adult Internet users now have a profile on at least one social networking site. And among online adults ages 35-44, 30% have a profile.

Although the share of online adults with a profile quadrupled from 8% in 2005, Pew found that the young are still more likely to use these sites. Among 18-24-year-olds, 75% of those who go online have a profile.

The value of these sites grows with the numbers, suggests social pychologist Robert Kraut of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

He says his son and daughter-in-law now post pictures and videos of his new grandchild on Facebook. “So my wife and I are looking at Facebook much more because there’s actual value.”

Pew found that most adults use social networking for personal rather than professional reasons; about half of adult users are on MySpace and just under a quarter use Facebook. Just 6% use LinkedIn, geared for business networking.

“If you choose one site over another, you go to a site where there’s already more people,” Kraut says.

Adults say they use social networking for various reasons:

•89% to keep up with friends;

•57% to make plans with friends;

•49% to make new friends.

Some use the sites to organize with others for an event, issue or cause; flirt; promote themselves or their work or make new business contacts.

Of social networking site users, 51% have two or more online profiles; 43% have only one. About 60% let only friends view their profiles.

Cate Riegner, vice president of Netpop Research, a San Francisco firm that studies online behavior, says social networking grew 93% in the two years between 2006 and 2008. During that time, Facebook grew 500%. That site began for college students and opened to the public in 2006.

The Pew report is based on two telephone surveys — one completed in December of 1,650 Internet users 18 and over and a survey completed in May of 328 adults who use social networks.