Twitter Becomes Major News Source for Storm-Bound

Lots of information in a little package

Like a lot of people, my primary source for information about Hurricane Sandy last night was Twitter. There I learned how high the water was rising during the storm surge, that a crane was dangling high above 57th Street and the façade of a building had fallen right off. I also quickly got wind of Governor Chris Christie's praise of President Obama's handling of the crisis. ConEd's warnings about power cut-offs showed up repeatedly right until—and after—the power was cut off.

I also briefly thought the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange was under water. It wasn't. I also thought that there were workers trapped after a ConEd transformer exploded. They weren't. There were photo hoaxes out there, too.