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by zhdc1 1769 days ago
Social media - at least, Twitter, but a couple of other sites before that - is still the go to source for breaking news.

It can take tens of minutes to hours for major news sites to report on a breaking event (e.g., the fall of Kabul). Meanwhile, you can get detailed - albiet in some cases very innacurate - information within minutes of it happening simply by watching for Tweets from people on the ground.
2 comments
mikeg8 1769 days ago
But do we really need to know breaking news, instantly? It becomes addicting; it especially was for me during the last administration. I’m completely fine finding out a few hours later about a breaking news story that doesn’t have a material effect on my immediate safety (ie wild fires). If Twitter’s biggest justification is that it lets you stay up to speed on news in real-time, I’d still agree we are better off without it, from a mental health perspective.
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zhdc1 1769 days ago
> do we really need to know breaking news, instantly?

There are good reasons, although I share your general concern. E.g., if you believe that you may be affected by an event, or if it's important/relevant enough that others will start to frame how it's perceived, it's generally good to find out about it as it's happening.

On the other hand, the vast majority of trending events aren't worth being concerned about for most people.

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bluGill 1769 days ago
If I need to know as it is happening there should be sirens going off outside in my town to alert me to that. Everything else can wait.
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nicce 1769 days ago
Plenty of these ”breaking news” are also heavily missleading. Causing side effects and heavy opinions, regardless if truth comes later. It is too late then.
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lotsofpulp 1769 days ago
> albiet in some cases very innacurate

I would correct to most cases. Or that the information you get is without sufficient context to be of use.

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zhdc1 1769 days ago
Actually, I've found that they tend to be fairly accurate at reporting 'what' is happening - it's hard for several people at the same time to post unique, fake videos of people driving around with guns while others are posting corroborating textual accounts.

The 'why' part is a completely different matter. If there's any interpretation or time difference between the event and the post, scepticism is absolutely warranted.

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bryan_w 1769 days ago
It's not that hard if you use "residential proxies"
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