Information is the preferred coin of today’s digital realm. However, data must also be timely and fresh to maintain its worth. Twitter has gained an edge in this endeavor, with both professional journalists as well as citizen observers providing updates about the latest newsworthy events transpiring around the world. A prime example of this was the death of Osama Bin Laden on May 6, 2011, when Twitter experienced the greatest sustained post rate of its history breaking news, averaging over 3400 tweets/second for almost two hours just prior to the U. S. presidential address confirming the story.
A controversy exists amongst industry observers as to whether Twitter has in fact been quicker than traditional media outlets for breaking news, yet when the devastating Japan earthquake left residents without any other way of keeping in touch with relatives, Twitter proved to be an invaluable tool. During the riots and unrest in the middle East, Twitter was peerless in both information dissemination and protestor organization, establishing itself as an essential communications aperture to the rest of the global community.
Following breaking news events via Twitter is a fairly straight-forward undertaking. In the search box, located in the toolbar at the top of the interface, enter a hashtag character (#) and the trending term: #trend. Current trends are located to the right of the Twitter feed in the sidebar section, and may or may not include the hashtag (most often it is included).
Once the search term is accessed, the user is presented with a Results feed for the search term. A link to an advanced search page (located at the top right of the feed) allows the user to refine the parameters with headings of Words, People, Places, and other. An option to save the search results is also available. Trends can be changed for geographical area, if needed. Tweets can be filtered by Top, All, or With Links, selectable from the top left of the feed. Any tweet selected will be amplified to the right in the sidebar, with options to Favorite, Retweet, and Reply. In addition, other users that are mentioned in the tweet are presented with user name, avatar icon, bio information, and the option to follow.
While Twitter’s founders no doubt didn’t plan for the SMS to be a breaking news outlet, its many users have adopted the site to utilize its ability to provide up to date information on the latest newsworthy information from around the world. This feature enhances the ROI of Twitter usage, an important consideration when accounting for the time spent in its employment.
The news channels keep on breaking their news till nothing remains. They even break the news of a heart broken wife beaten by her booze broken husband. The entertainment channels break you tastelessly when you start finding it palatable. The movie channels break you so much that you give up going any further with it. The sports channels break even the live proceedings and allow so much break virus creep into the small screen that you almost need a Google search to find your favourite players. This burden of breaks is definitely getting oppressive and dangerous for the living planet. How so? Well, we cannot afford to take a break here. We continue relentlessly so that you get the full point without it being broken.
It is said that nature retaliates when man commits follies on earth. Nature tries to convey messages or warnings first. When these are not heeded nature starts breaking out in full fury. Enough breaks are enough follies. Nature has already demonstrated that in a myriad pattern all over the globe.
In summer coldness creeps in due to incessant rains. If you see the pattern in different parts of the globe including India you will find that 10% to 50% of total seasonal rainfall get delivered in just few hours or in a single day. After that follows a long gap and then again the deluge for one or two days. Floods, earthquakes, fires have acquired added force due to the concentrated efforts. So you sweat in winter, shiver in summer, swim in rainwater and despair of nature’s unseasonal behavior. Deadly surprises lurk in every corner of your planet.
Chinmay Chakravarty is a professional specialized in the creative field with over two decades of experience in journalistic writing, media co-ordination, film script writing, film dubbing, film & video making, management of international film festivals and editing of books & journals. Proficient in providing professional services in these related fields and also in fields of credit tips, personal finance and mediation help. Has a passion for making people laugh as often as possible and is interested in having a laughter club for doing away with everyday problems.