The Chinese earthquake and Twitter – crowdsourcing without managers
May 12, 2008
There’s been an earthquake in China, and the Twittersphere is alive with it. I’m going to write a post on this and keep adding to it through the next hour or so. Let me know anything interesting you’ve spotted @paulbradshaw
The first interesting point is Tweetburner: its most-clicked links shared on Twitter are almost entirely about the earthquake, and show some interesting uses:
- A Google map of the earthquake location
- A BBC blog post about Twitter coverage of the earthquake
- A Twitter user’s tweet about experiencing the earthquake (in Shanghai)
- A Google translation from Chinese to English of tweets from Twitterlocal
- The Earthquake Center’s page on the earthquake
- CNN’s report
- A picture which appears to be capturing the earthquake in an office
- A Summize search for ‘earthquake’
Here is crowdsourcing without the editorial management. How quickly otherwise would a journalist have thought of using Twitterlocal with a Google translation? And how soon before someone improves it so it only pulls tweets with the word ‘earthquake’, or more specific to the region affected? (It also emphasises the need for newspapers and broadcasters to have programmers on the team who could do this quickly)
How quickly would a journalist have found someone who speaks English and was affected by the quake? Or an image? (Of course, this needs verifying, but sourcing has already begun)
AlphaTwitter shows some of the same results but also included a video of someone experiencing tremors 950 miles away in Beijing, a Chinese language report (including that picture mentioned above) and an English language Chinese media report. Tweetmeme showed the same links as Tweetburner.
Twitt(url)y and Hashtags, meanwhile, both appeared to be down. And Intwition picked the worst possible time to pause their service for changes.
Twitter coverage of the earthquake
Robert Scoble was following proceedings on his much-followed Twitter, and feeding back information from his followers, including, for instance (after he tweeted the fact that Tweetscan was struggling) that people were saying Summize was the best tool to use.
If you followed the conversation through Scoble using Quotably, you could then find Gregg Scott, who in turn was talking to RedChina, Karoli, mmsullivan, and inwalkedbud who was in Chengdu, China (also there was Casperodj and Lyrrael).
If you wanted to check out inwalkedbud you could do so using Tweetstats and find he has been twittering since December. Sadly the Internet Archive doesn’t bring any results, though.
The mainstream media had differing reports: RTE (Ireland) said “No major damage after China earthquake” – but UK’s Sky News reported four children killed and over 100 injured; Chinaview (China) said no buildings had collapsed – but an Australian newspaper said they had.
Interestingly, Chinaview was slow loading, presumably because of excessive demand from users – another reason Twitter, with its 140 character minimalism, should in theory prove more useful during a major news event. I say in theory because Twitter is not as reliable as it should be.
World Wide Help, a blog set up following the Asian tsunami, started liveblogging it.
And perhaps the best coverage came from Shanghaiist, which also liveblogged it, including an image, links to twitter tweets, radio reports, Google Maps and video (many of these the same as listed above – it’s hard to tell whether they got their links from Twitter or vice versa).
Interestingly, their latest update as I type is UPDATE 30, 5:32pm: Not confirmed, but from reliable source: “Propaganda dept has banned news outlets from sending own teams. All stories have to be from Xinhua.” Anyone have more details?
From The Frontline recorded how they had used Twitter to follow events, and concluded the time for debate on the usefulness of Twitter is over. Well, of course.
It also brings up debates about the role of journalists in a networked age – given that I could follow the story (conversation) from an office in Birmingham UK, but mainly because I knew the right tools to do so, how does that affect the journalist’s role? I’d answer that firstly they need to know the tools (including those of verification), and secondly they need to be in the conversations already. What’s your excuse?
UPDATE: In another demonstration of the importance of being in the conversation, this blog post was linked to by Robert Scoble, generating a pingback (notification of a link), which made me read his blog post, which then led me to Global Voices Online’s links to videos and other Twitter and blog reports (this is why journalists should be blogging). They link to a non-English summize search for, presumably, ‘earthquake’. Another key point:
“Many are writing of difficulties connecting to those at the center of the quake zone over telephone, but the internet seems to still be functioning. Beijing-based tech guru Kaiser Kuo writes that the government Earthquake Bureau website is currently inaccessible, presumably from high levels of traffic.”
UPDATE: Mathew Ingram adds:
“People can post messages about whatever they wish, rather than answering only the questions that a producer asks them, and they can add links to blog posts, photos, maps and video. In the study I wrote about recently that looked at Twitter and Facebook and Wikipedia as disaster reporting tools, one of the comments about the California fires was that the media focused on celebrities and how they were affected, but Twitter and other sources gave a more complete version of events and how they were affecting everyone.”
From Better Living Through Software:
“It’s silly in the extreme to act like twitter is somehow breaking news, though. Masses of people within China found out about the earthquake as it was happening via messages from friends on QQ (which is massively more popular than twitter), and CCTV carried the news almost instantly. I suppose it’s cute that some English-speaking expats using echo-chamber technology were able to *also* report the event on twitter, but even the tweetscan example seems a bit lame to me. When I search for tweets with the word “地震”, tweetscan gives me nothing — apparently tweetscan doesn’t care about Chinese. Perhaps this explains why Scoble and BBC are reporting only English tweets from China.”
UPDATE: Two more blog posts worth reading for their balanced effect. Firstly, the Daily Kos has a post that gives an overview of online coverage in both English and Chinese, including a link to the QQ Earthquake video page. Digital Watch talks of the hubris of those hyping the role of Twitter in coverage:
“Twitter’s immediacy was nice, but by no means unique. The whole time I was twittering, my wife was on her instant messengers, with both QQ and MSN Live open. She was also monitoring all the portals’ news flashes on the quake. I didn’t feel like I had any more information than she did
“Twitter’s public nature was of some real value both for ordinary folk and for professional journalists, who were able to quickly identify English-speakers on the scene who could be interviewed. The broadcast nature of Twitter, while it can bore one to tears when used to gratuitously announce one’s pedestrian comings and goings, was in this case something that made it better than simple IM.
“The other dimension to Twitter that proved very useful in this case was its global usership: there were lots of Chinese messages I was following, and I was among many people bilingual individuals translating more useful, insightful, or interesting tweets from Chinese into English. Call it “bridge microblogging.””
Entry Filed under: online journalism. Tags: alphatwitter, china earthquake, Daily Kos, digital watch, earthquake, from the frontline, global voices, gregg scott, intwition, redchina, robert scoble, summize, tweetmeme, tweetscan, twitter, twitturly.
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1. Scobleizer — Tech g&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 9:19 am
[...] Online Journalism Blog has a lot more details about what happened on Twitter tonight. From the Frontline blog has even more. Possibly related [...]
2. Smart Mobs » Blog A&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 9:20 am
[...] the Online Journalisme Bog Paul Bradshaw keeps you posted on twitters informative role A major earthquake measuring 7.8 on the [...]
3. odd time signatures &raqu&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 10:02 am
[...] Great summary by @paulbradshaw of how the news broke and a list of all search, maps and active links to information about the earthquake. [...]
4.
Twitter and the Chinese E&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 11:22 am
[...] Twitter and the Chinese earthquake [...]
5. rexblog.com: Rex Hammock&&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 12:51 pm
[...] this tragedy is already being analyzed the technosphere (good examples: MG Siegler at VentureBeat, The Onlline Journalism Blog and the ubber-blogger/twitterer Robert Scoble) and even by some mainstream media tech-news [...]
6. Twitter e o terramoto na &hellip | May 12, 2008 at 12:58 pm
[...] O Twitter e o terramoto na China, um excelente post de Paul Bradshaw no seu Online Journalism [...]
7. links for 2008-05-12 &laq&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 1:14 pm
[...] Twitter and the Chinese earthquake – crowdsourcing without managers « Online Journalism Blog Paul Bradshaw on how to cover the earthquake in China with Twitter (tags: Twitter China Earthquake) [...]
8. Sandra puffar… 2008&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 2:12 pm
[...] skakade i dag delar av Kina. På Twitter har aktiviteten kring händelsen varit hög, något som Online Journalism blog beskriver på ett bra sätt. Bloggen Converged media undrar hur journalister kan dra nytta av den [...]
9.
len De Groot | May 12, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Twitter is a great tool, but how much reliable information moved? The USGS maps quakes around the world as they happen. Did that stuff show up? More about the USGS here: http://blogs.trb.com/news/specials/newsillustrated/blog/2008/05/china_earthquake_monitor_tembl.html
10. Twitter: The first draft &hellip | May 12, 2008 at 3:24 pm
[...] in California last fall and other recent news events, Twitter became one of the main sources of on-the-ground reporting — even before CNN started picking up what was happening, and with more personal detail. [...]
11. Earthquake in China &laqu&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 5:48 pm
[...] Online Journalism Blog) Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)The Izmit earthquake 1999Twitterquake: Sitting [...]
12.
Scott Toncray | May 12, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Great post, quite insightful, we are on the same page.
13.
depois do tremor, o que e&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 6:27 pm
[...] Paul Bradshaw, como de hábito, muito rápido e antenado, reflete sobre o arrasa-quarteirão e as olas no Twitter. [...]
14. Following Chinese &hellip | May 12, 2008 at 7:13 pm
[...] read what UK Tidbits correspondent Paul Bradshaw has to say about this phenomenon on his Online Journalism Blog. He offers a ton of links to places where social media-based coverage and analysis of the quake is [...]
15.
paulbradshaw | May 12, 2008 at 7:36 pm
@Ien (comment 9): the USGS webpage was no.3 on the top ten links being shared on twitter (5 on my numbered list), so yes, that stuff showed up.
16. humanitarian.info »&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 10:55 pm
[...] shows that Twitter is a force to be reckoned with. The Online Journalism Blog goes link crazy on crowdsourcing without managers, so start reading there and follow the trail. The key indicator for the Twitterers (ironically) is [...]
17. El blog de Martín Arnedo&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 10:59 pm
[...] todo un ‘en vivo’ del temblor que anticipó laoleada de reacciones en la [...]
18. links for 2008-05-&hellip | May 12, 2008 at 11:41 pm
[...] The Chinese earthquake and Twitter – crowdsourcing without managers « Online Journalism Blog As usual Paul has his finger on the pulse of this stuff. Very interesting (tags: breaking china crowdsourcing earthquake google maps journalism twitter) [...]
19. Vancouver International D&hellip | May 13, 2008 at 12:08 am
[...] in California last fall and other recent news events, Twitter became one of the main sources of on-the-ground reporting — even before CNN started picking up what was happening, and with more personal detail. [...]
20. Notes from a Teacher: Mar&hellip | May 13, 2008 at 3:32 am
[...] The Chinese earthquake and Twitter – crowdsourcing without managers. Like a lot of others, I learned about the horrible earthquake in China first from Twitter and that’s where I’ve been following the updates throughout the day. Paul Bradshaw takes a look at how the microblogging service “covered” the news, and there’s a lot in his post both about how the story developed and some of the other tools that those following it were using. See also Mathew Ingram’s Twitter: The first draft of history? and Twitter’s quicker debate over, at the Frontline Club. [...]
21.
Andy T | May 13, 2008 at 4:22 am
“crowdsourcing without managers”
I don’t think that it is an issue. The news story should be judge by yourself, find out by yourself.
“crowdsourcing without managers” is better that directed stories and official stories.
22.
Dilip | May 13, 2008 at 4:33 am
Hi All:
Thought you might be interested in a Crowdsourcing event at Stanford on May 20th, 2008 sponsored by VLAB. Jeff Howe from Wired who coined the term crowdsourcing will be moderating a panel with VCs and crowdsourcing companies like Cambrian House.
http://www.vlab.org/article.html?aid=184
23. Conversations with Dina &&hellip | May 13, 2008 at 4:36 am
[...] been a huge load of blogging and tweeting live as the earthquake and its aftermath unfolded, with first accounts – reports, images and videos from [...]
24. Twitter ble jordskjelvkan&hellip | May 13, 2008 at 7:31 am
[...] Tuinstra ved PoynterOnline og Paul Bredshaw på Online Journalisme Blog forteller i dag hvordan Twitter utvikler seg til en interessant kanal for nyhetsdekning ved store [...]
25.
O Twitter é o primeiro e&hellip | May 13, 2008 at 11:31 am
[...] do local através da Internet e o volume de buscas de informação relacionadas foi considerável. Paul Bradshaw analisa o terremoto no Twitter num post em constante actualização, e Matthew Ingram faz uma pergunta muito boa: será o Twitter [...]
26. Is Twitter really that im&hellip | May 13, 2008 at 9:48 pm
[...] depended upon for up to the second data during an event. In the same week, we get a different scenario that again proves the usefulness of having this medium. And recently, there was the story of the [...]
27. El terremoto en China, v&hellip | May 14, 2008 at 9:03 am
[...] la madeja? No fue complicado, aunque tomó su tiempo: googlear twitter china earthquake. Llego al Online Journalism Blog. Me entero de la existencia de Quotably. Lo uso y busco, y busco, y busco. Y finalmente encuentro. [...]
28.
Entrevista sobre o Twitte&hellip | May 14, 2008 at 6:01 pm
[...] a importância do Twitter como ferramenta de breaking news no caso do terremoto da China (ver The Chinese earthquake and Twitter – crowdsourcing without managers). Existem várias vertentes para a sua utilização no jornalismo. A primeira é na recolha de [...]
29. FreieNetze.de » Lin&hellip | May 15, 2008 at 1:02 pm
[...] Online Journalism Blog – The Chinese Earthquake and Twitter – crowdsourcing without managers [...]
30. Chicago Public Radio Blog&hellip | May 15, 2008 at 6:35 pm
[...] citizen journalism. And finally, this post is an interesting look from a journalism perspective at how Twitter has assisted in the reporting of the quake . I think we’ll continue to see this trend evolve. The challenge will be to transform these [...]
31. iheni :: making the web w&hellip | May 17, 2008 at 6:32 am
[...] If you’re interested in listening in to what’s being said in China right now check out the Twittervision’s China page. For quality Tweets follow Fuzheado, Shanghaiist, Nuibi and Shizhao (if you read Chinese). For in-depth analysis of how Twitter was used check out The Chinese earthquake and Twitter: crowdsourcing without managers. [...]
32.
liz | May 23, 2008 at 8:27 am
it perfetic!!!!!!
33.
アメリカ留学 | May 26, 2008 at 9:41 am
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34.
Shawn | May 30, 2008 at 4:17 pm
By now, you know that an earthquake of catastrophic proportion hit China’s southwestern Sichuan province a few weeks ago. But did you know that four of China’s most cherished World Heritage sites were affected, too? One very important site is the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, home to 30% of the world’s remaining endangered giant pandas.
Aid teams working in the area need help to be most effective in their efforts to save the pandas and restore access to the sites. Check out the online campaign that Friends of World Heritage, a grassroots initiative created by the United Nations Foundation with Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, has created to raise awareness and funds to help.
To learn more, visit https://secure.globalproblems-globalsolutions.org/site/Donation2?idb=922467088&df_id=1160&1160.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr006=rxcaaac41f.app5b
35. O Twitter como Ferramenta&hellip | June 5, 2008 at 2:43 pm
[...] ponto de vista jornalístico, basta ver o caso do terramoto na China para se perceber a importância que o Twitter pode ter na descoberta de tópicos noticiosos. Mas [...]
36. the human network »&hellip | June 7, 2008 at 9:52 am
[...] hours after the Sichuan earthquake, when text messaging and other tools for hyperconnectivity spontaneously created a Human Network, sharing news of the tragedy and working to locate missing people. Such [...]
37.
shaka | June 9, 2008 at 5:37 am
nice and god post
38.
kashif | June 9, 2008 at 5:39 am
Earthquake Facts And Figures