That Twitter journalism groove

It was in 2009 that I first started using Twitter. It had been around for a while by then.  During those days, the main network for instant news updates was SMS. I was linked to a group of journalists who reported on the conflict via one such group. I was also helping out in a volunteer capacity with a business venture that was based on SMS news updates.The latter crashed; the former did so too but with far more dangerous consequences.  

We all were aware that the SMS group had potential informants. What we did not know was the length they would go to. A message that was circulated through the group was instantly shared with military intelligence who were able to easily figure out the original details had come from a small military detachment in the Northwest which had come under attack in the middle of the night. With the help of the informant within the group not only was the source compromised but all of us stopped posting on to the SMS group. Thus went a valuable information source. 

Twitter quickly became my-go-to-platform for breaking news and information. Using applications like Tweetdeck, I could easily curate it to groups, hashtags and feeds that were like a tailormade news ticker for me. For the last five years or more I have had Tweetdeck running, mostly in the background when I work. 

Disinformation, misinformation were part and parcel of the game as was bold print of the same. The hardest task was not getting the information, it was verifying it. All parties to the conflict played the game of making sure that they were in control of the narrative, sometime by any means possible

I have had very little issues with disinformation and misinformation and also online threats. I credit years of reporting the conflict for this; like my experience with that SMS group. Disinformation, misinformation were part and parcel of the game as was bold print of the same. 

Twitter quickly became my-go-to-platform for breaking news and information. Using applications like Tweetdeck, I could easily curate it to groups, hashtags and feeds that were like a tailormade news ticker for me. For the last five years or more I have had Tweetdeck running, mostly in the background when I work 

The hardest task was not getting the information, it was verifying it. All parties to the conflict played the game of making sure that they were in control of the narrative, sometime by any means possible. 
Threats, physical and otherwise were common. The epithet ‘traitor’ was more common than my own surname linked to me. So, by the time I transitioned, I was used to all this. 
But the vectors of online threats and dangers are really high on Twitter as with other social media platforms. My research work in fact centres around this – how do journalists navigate these dangers and keep working. 

Twitter was and still is all the following rolled into one screen – public info, all the gossip some of which can lead to some of the best stories, the unverified junk, the lies, the slurs, the curses and the worst of the worst vitriol. I lived in this very universe before Twitter. Back then it was slower and by extension a bit more controllable

Now that Twitter, my personal, free, news ticker is in chaos, I have been left with looking for alternatives. The Elon Musk takeover of Twitter has been followed by mass disruptions with staff leaving and all kinds of changes being announced. There were a few that came through as I was writing this. 
Last week there was fear that the platform could be gone within days. I was one of those who downloaded my Twitter archive and also joined an alternative platform. But I have not left Twitter yet and am unlikely to do so, at least any time soon. 

It is still my go to platform for info, in the real time from the world cup to the minor hailstorms that have taken liking to my current neighbourhood. I am still searching for that alternative that can fill the Twitter journalism groove. Again, as I was typing this, Twitter was first notification of an earthquake near Solomon Islands. 
Twitter was and still is all the following rolled into one screen – public info, all the gossip some of which can lead to some of the best stories, the unverified junk, the lies, the slurs, the curses and the worst of the worst vitriol. I lived in this very universe before Twitter. Back then it was slower and by extension a bit more controllable. 
The digital replication has been like been in a digital storm of locust 24/7. My job right now is to train media professionals to safely deal with this storm. 

To cut to the chase, despite the mass migration out of Twitter, it remains the go to pint for me. I could join the desertions, but for now, I am one of those who is hoping the platform survives this chaos. 
Hopefully, Twitter would have survived from yesterday to today. 
The writer is a journalism researcher and the Project Lead at the Dart Centre Asia Pacific. He can be contacted on 

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