discobeta

Last week's events in Mumbai were a sad reminder of the tragic role that terrorism still plays in all parts of the world. And, much less importantly, added fire to the already common question of the role that twitter plays in breaking news. Just taking a look at #Mumbai, there is a constant flow of news on twitter, even a week later, from both people close to Mumbai and others outside of India that want to keep their followers informed.

The Columbia Journalism Review is one of the many asking, "How Should Journalists Use Twitter?". For me, this brought up a different question: How can news sites use twitter?

As Jeremiah Owyang points out, twitter can facilitate the spread of information in real time. From a journalist's standpoint, it is difficult to compete with a constant flow of possibly unreliable 140 character reports of amateur journalists. But that does not mean that twitter cannot add context to a developing story.

Much like live video over TV news reports, a twitter feed next to a NYTimes.com or CNN.com developing story can provide context to what is happening with live commentary from the thousands of people reporting from close to the scene. Current already experimented with using twitter for live reactions by letting viewers Hack the Debate. There's no reason that traditional journalism and user generated reaction cannot exist side by side.

The risks for news sites go without saying. The content on twitter may be inappropriate, incorrect or drive readers to a competing news site. But they run they same risk by allowing readers to comment. This could be the next logical step for them in creating an interactive news experience.