Last Sunday, my colleague Doug and I were sent to cover a fire. We were given an address, and started driving from Queens, where we had just finished a live shot, to Hempstead, Long Island. I punched in the search term “Hempstead” into Twitter on my iPad and uncovered a feed of tweets from a bunch of emergency personnel and scanner heads. One had a link to a live scanner feed. That made the difference. We were able to hear where the staging area was, and which roads were closed. We ended up arriving before all the other stations and had the most advantageous spot to go live from. Because we got there earlier, we got shots and interviews no one else had the time to get, all because of technology.
And that’s only 1 of the many ways I’ve used Twitter to help tell stories, and do research. Stay tuned….
