Much has been written about Twitter overtaking FaceBook in the social networking popularity wars, but for me the search or navigation part of Twitter has to get a good deal more sophisticated before FB need worry. If you're not on Twitter 24/7, you will miss the few tweets you really wanted to read in the vast avalanche of advancing messages that arrange themselves chronologically in real time on your home page. I dip in and out and have to spend much longer than I really want to sifting through the garbage like a magpie looking for the glint of something attractive. It's dull work, and will soon have me finding quicker, sharper alternatives.
This real time dimension does, however, have one inalienable advantage. When a major world event happens, Twitter captures real time eye witness accounts that add up to crowdsourced journalism, or history in its first draft. You Tube has revolutionised the reporting of controversial news with immediate, individual eye witness accounts beamed across the world, and Twitter does the same with its instant sharing of tiny messages.
How useful would it be now if there had been some passengers on the AirFrance Rio-Paris flight urgently uploading tweets on what was going on in that plane?
