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Friday, February 15, 2013

Teh Internets A Good Reason Why Twitter Beat Mainstream News at the #RussianMeteor Story

Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 7:42 AM

Yes, this is true:

Twitter_____Barry_Malone__100_s_of_tweets_and_videos_....png

But we also live in an age where commercials and publicity stunts are competing with YouTube's public imagination. Indeed, the lines between commercials, pranks, stunts, and YouTube oddities are getting harder to detect...

Anyone who saw the crazy fire-in-the-motherfucking-sky footage on Twitter, as I did around 9 pm last night, and could not find one mainstream news agency that had reported on it, had very good reason to question its authenticity...

Eventually the BBC stuck out its neck, but very cautiously. These are the real times of miracles and wonder.

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If you really want to have fun freaking yourself out about the end of the world, check out any video by fidockave on youtube.

Posted by I'm black!Really! on February 15, 2013 at 8:17 AM

My first thought was wondering what the chemistry of that smoke trail was. Next, I wondered if they knew enough about it's path to find it.

Posted by Pope Peabrain on February 15, 2013 at 8:20 AM

This headline is absurd, I think, like writing "911 callers beat fire department to blaze." Well, duh.

Twitter is the telephone call that precedes the institutional response. Is this something people don't know? It amazes me how many people think news media "loses" by taking the time to check their sources and develop facts before publishing. Twitter's speed and news media's interest in taking enough time to give us something meaty to read are complementary forces, not competitive ones.

Posted by gloomy gus on February 15, 2013 at 8:25 AM

We demand news organizations cover things with the speed of Twitter, then deem them worthless and untrustworthy when they do not take the time to fact check.

Posted by Theodore Gorath on February 15, 2013 at 8:43 AM

quoting paul simon seems so very high school-freshman.

Posted by deepconcentration on February 15, 2013 at 9:17 AM

Charles,
One way or another that footage is extraordinary. Can you imagine actually viewing that live? A once in a lifetime experience. Truly astronomical.

Posted by lark on February 15, 2013 at 9:28 AM

Just for the record, anyone watching the second video Charles posted: The very end of that video shows a giant burning hole in the ground. The implication is that is the meteor landing site.

It is not.

It is the "Door to Hell", near Darvaz, Uzbekistan. It was the site of a potential natural gas well that collapsed, and then was intentionally ignited, and has been burning for the last 35 years. It has nothing at all to do with the #RussianMeteor.

Posted by treacle on February 15, 2013 at 9:35 AM

Those North Korean rockets aimed at Washington need work on their guidance systems. The Russians get all the fun.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn on February 15, 2013 at 10:00 AM

"how did they find the path" if you are used to tracking incoming rockets and jets to survive, you get pretty good at learning where to look when you hear a sonic boom.

@8 for the Fearless Leader win.

Posted by Will in Seattle