The timeliness of Twitter is definitely amazing. I think a lot of things will break via Twitter, and IIRC the emergency landing in the Hudson was one of these

The timeliness of Twitter is definitely amazing. I think a lot of things will break via Twitter, and IIRC the emergency landing in the Hudson was one of these stories. It's the undisputed champ of quickly getting information "out there" ... provided you matter to enough people for it to begin to spread virally. It's definitely cool to see people's take on ultra-current events, and Twitter search can provide the Who, What, Where, When, and Why, but does not dig very deep into any of them. And because of the vast amounts of noise, it also requires you to know beforehand what you're looking for. What Twitter search is amazing at is eyewitness accounts in realtime for things you're actively seeking... but to me eyewitness accounts are only one aspect of the story, and usually I'm not seeking anything in particular. News has its place, and Twitter has its place, I don't see them intersecting over any other aspect than eyewitness accounts.