There is a legitimate concern of vetting real time information, something news bureaus traditionally handled. We have many examples of false rumors storming though social channels, but we also have examples of mainstream news misfiring while trying to scoop breaking news. Time is demonstrating that community policing is an effective check against social and mainstream news.

Here is an example of a news site performing well in social media. Our local paper, @statesman, does a great job of establishing separate Twitter feeds for breaking news on extremely short notice. As a news authority, they help corral real-time information simply by directing web & mobile traffic to a custom Twitter account. They generate custom hash tags so the topic trends on Twitter. Then they monitor the feeds for leads and post news updates as they are able to verify. They credit their Twitter sources and engage the community as the event unfolds. They’ve executed this strategy well with the Ft. Hood shootings and Joe Stack’s aerial attack on the IRS.