Twitter and the News: Does Social Media Really Replace Newswires?

Many journalists may look to Twitter first for breaking news when major events are involved.

However, new research has found that reporting of news events through this social media device actually shows little evidence that it can be replaced via traditional first-hand reporting.

Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow developed a software algorithm to track Twitter activity and investigate this theory further. They used it to study 51 million tweets over 11 weeks in summer 2011 and compared these with output from news outlets for the same period. Newswires tracked included the following: BBC, CNN, Reuters and the New York Times.

Background information from the study shows that scientists monitored Twitter messages that related to major news items, and even more minor information that was undermined by other media outlets.

Results showed that neither Twitter nor newswires was regularly faster than the other in breaking up high-profile news. However, when Twitter outperformed newswires for speed, it was mainly for sport and disaster-related events.

"Twitter and traditional news outlets each have their strengths in terms of delivering news," said lead study author Dr. Miles Osborne of the University of Ediburgh's School of Informatics, via a press release. "However, Twitter can bring added value by spreading the word on events that we might not otherwise hear about, and for bringing local perspectives on major news items."

What do you think?

The study, supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is to be presented at the 7th International AAAI Conference On Weblogs And Social Media, in Boston, US, next week.

However, it is important to note that several stories have been broken via Twitter. For a list of them, check them out here, via Tech Radar.