We've all been asked that haven't we. And there are a bunch of answers which we can trot out. Perhaps we've now got the best one of all - Osama Bin Laden. Twitter was the first to report that President Obama was going to talk to the country on a national security matter at 9:45 ET. Keith Urbahn tweeted at 10.25 "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn." That didn't hit the rest of the media until 10.45 and President Obama didn't confirm it until 11.35.
Moreover, the actual attack was live tweeted, even if the guy tweeting (Sohaib Athar) didn't realise that he was doing it. Here's a few examples:
Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).
the few people online at this time of the night are saying one of the copters was not Pakistani...
Since taliban (probably) don't have helicpoters, and since they're saying it was not "ours", so must be a complicated situation
Realisation suddenly dawned with his tweet:
Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.
Twitter was the first place that I discovered the news - I generally check Twitter before I turn on the radio and saw my Tweetstream awash with information. It really is the place to go for breaking news.
Moreover, the actual attack was live tweeted, even if the guy tweeting (Sohaib Athar) didn't realise that he was doing it. Here's a few examples:
Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).
the few people online at this time of the night are saying one of the copters was not Pakistani...
Since taliban (probably) don't have helicpoters, and since they're saying it was not "ours", so must be a complicated situation
Realisation suddenly dawned with his tweet:
Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.
Twitter was the first place that I discovered the news - I generally check Twitter before I turn on the radio and saw my Tweetstream awash with information. It really is the place to go for breaking news.
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