Research suggests traditional news services and Twitter are equally matched.
Researchers at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow have compared Twitter and traditional newswires to determine which is best at breaking news.
50 million tweets were analysed over 11 weeks and compared to the outputs of major news websites to determine:
- Whether the newswires and Twitter are covering different events
- Whether Twitter breaks news faster than the newswire providers
- What types of news does Twitter break first
The research found that ‘there is no evidence that one source leads another in terms of breaking news’. However, Twitter has a distinct advantage when it comes to local events and breaking news.
The paper is available to read here.