General

Putting Facebook and Twitter to the test

Five journalists plan to only use social media to get their news

The ability of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter to relay news around the world at breathtaking speed has been well documented this past year, particularly when these sites first provided video of the Iranian election protests, and the outpouring of emotion and money for Haiti relief. But just how useful are the sites as news aggregators when used exclusively? Five journalists plan to lock themselves away in a French farmhouse with access only to these two sites to test just that. They will spend five days—beginning Feb 1—locked away in a house in the southern regions of France. “Our aim is to show that there are different sources of information and to look at the legitimacy of each of these sources,” said one of the participants.

AFP

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