Twitter is the New Radio

It was about 4 o’clock on the last day of April. I had just spent two hours in virtual isolation with my hairdresser, chatting about vet bills and dating (her, not me) and, you know, hair. I came out feeling very good and looking very blonde, got into my car and cranked up the music, and drove off toward home.

When I got to the corner of Young and Agricola, I noticed a huge, dense cloud that appeared to be hanging over Quinpool Road. When I got to Young and Robie, I could see that this was clearly smoke from some kind of fire.

From where I was, it looked like something might have exploded. I thought back to my high school years in Saint John NB, when an Irving Station had blown up and actually moved the Reversing Falls Bridge several inches to one side. My inner pessimist was speculating wildly about what might have caused this massive smoke cloud.

I had no idea what was going on, or where, but clearly it was something big. I turned on the radio. Nothing. Halifax appeared to have exploded but CBC was running an item about the closing of a downtown candy store. All of the other stations programmed into my car radio were playing music.

But I knew where I could find out right away what had happened: Twitter.

Oh, I know there are plenty of you out there who just don’t “get” Twitter (including many of my “Facebook friends”). But let me put it to you this way: something happens - someone “tweets” information about what has happened. That’s how long it takes. Back in university, we used to talk about how radio was the medium with the advantage of immediacy. Those days are long gone.

So I came home and searched Twitter for “Halifax” and “Halifax fire” and I found out pretty quickly that the fire was in Spryfield. (Also, my sister-in-law had emailed me minutes earlier from her workplace on Herring Cove Road, saying, “As I look out my office window I can see the forest fire smoke billowing into the air!”)

Then I phoned my sister (who has a bird’s-eye view of most of the city from her apartment window) and she could identify right away that the fire was near York Redoubt. She even took pictures from her window and sent them to me so I could tweet them.

I guess my point is that, by the time most of the “conventional” media had figured out that something important was happening and had started getting the word out, I already had my answers.

So, while I’m not suggesting that everyone has to run out and embrace Twitter, I would suggest that it shouldn’t be dismissed it out of hand. And just as with any information medium, it’s important to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to reliable sources and accuracy. But the preconceived notion that Twitter is vacuous just because the posts are short is simply wrong. In fact, many posts link to websites that are brimming with good information.

Ultimately, regardless of how I got the information, it was distressing news, to say the least. It was frightening to watch the progress of the fire, and heartbreaking to hear the stories of those who lost their homes and belongings. My heart goes out to all of those folks, and my gratitude to all of the firefighters and volunteers.