New Media Marketing:

I just found out about a major earthquake in China on my iPhone from my Twitter notification messages.

M 7.8 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

Here in Hawaii, it’s important for our residents to know of earthquakes happening on the other side of the world. Depending on the area and the size, we need to be prepared for a tsunami that could hit as a result of activity.

Amazing! Twitter has become the place where I now get my news instantly of what’s going on around the world. Perhaps now my followers will understand why I follow so many people. Because you never know who will break a story in his or her part of the world.

I was just signing off for the night when I received a tweet from Robert Scoble that there had just been an earthquake in China. He shared pictures, videos and firsthand accounts from the tweeters he was following–some who tweeted while they experienced the earthquake.

I shared this tweet with my followers so they could “follow the story as it unfolds on Twitter about the recent earthquake in China, visit: http://quotably.com/ChinaRed .”

Another place to follow stories shared on Twitter is Summize.com, where you simply type in the topic you want to follow–in this case it would be “earthquake” or “China Earthquake“–and you can see all the various reports from Tweeters all over the world.

Robert Scoble (aka: the @Scobleizer on Twitter) reported on the major quake in China to his followers on Twitter before the USGS website had a report up and about an hour before CNN or major press started talking about it.

@Dtan was the first to report to share this news to Scoble on Google talk from Beijing.

@ChinaRed shared the Google Map of Earthquake epicenter. Reporting the exact position is 31.0 W 103.4 E

Rory Cellan-Jones, a BBC blogger, posed the question,

“Is this the moment when Twitter comes of age as a platform which can bring faster coverage of a major news event than traditional media, while allowing participants and onlookers to share their experiences”?

I say yes since Twitter is everywhere regular people are. It’s not reliant on a certain segment of the population to arrive on the scene in order to report it, getting secondhand information. Twitter is the place where I get my news instantly–as it occurs.

A month ago, I found out why I was stopped in traffic on a Hawaii highway through my Twitter followers. All I had to do was publish one question asking what was going on, and within minutes they told me by sending a message to @CoachDeb that it was because of an overturned schoolbus carrying the women’s water polo team.

Another tweeter reported during last Friday night’s first TwitCast that he found out he needed to stay away from his school because of some flu that was going around in San Francisco.

More and more stories will be reported via Twitter first, the traditional news channels second. And it makes perfect sense. It’s the fastest way to connect with thousands of people in an instant–and in 140 characters or less.

Are you on Twitter yet? There are many more reasons and uses to join Twitter, but I’d say getting this type of news–fast–is one of the most critical reasons to be on Twitter.com.

Perhaps “New Media” should be renamed: “Fast Media” or “Instant Media” coverage compared to snail mail reporting, waiting for the “experts” to arrive and report.

What do you think?

What information have you learned about on Twitter first?

And if you’re someone who shares news in your part of the world, please add me on Twitter @CoachDeb and send me an @ message so I can follow you back and stay in the loop on what’s going on around the world.