New York plane crash pic is Twittered

A perfect example of the value of citizen journalism in a crisis. A plane goes down in the Hudson, and eyewitness Janis Krums takes a picture on his iPhone, sends it to his Twitter site with this linking comment:

http://twitpic.com/135xa - There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy.

It goes around the world.

Twitter and YouTube go to war in Gaza

Up to now Twitter has been lauded as a platform for citizen journalism. Now the Israeli consulate in New York has become a player by launching its own Twitter stream where it draws attention to media articles it favours and seeks to rebut statements and comment that it does not.

Also, the Israeli army now has a YouTube channel on which it posts images of its assaults on Gaza.

Aljazeera presents its take, again via Twitter, with features including an interactive map.

Last year Wire declared blogging was dead because it had been adopted by professional journalists and others with easy access to traditional media. Smaller organisations and individuals were said to be turning to services such as Twitter and Facebook to get their voice heard.

The Mumbai terror attacks were one manifestation of that. This is a counter move to that, and shows no successful means of communication will be ignored by any group or organsiation with a message to get across.

Read more here.