It is hard to read the technology or business section of a newspaper and not see at least one article about Twitter. While I am still working to understand the different ways Twitter can help businesses one thing is clear. Twitter has the ability to spread information at alarmingly rapid rates. For instance, I read one columnist who was curious about an orange glow he saw in the distance from his bedroom window. While it looked like a fire, he wasn't sure how close it was. The website for his local paper didn't have any info about a fire, but when he checked twitter he got information letting him know the there was a fire, but it was many miles from his house.
So even though Twitter can pass news very quickly, it relies on us to be the editors of the content. And we can do a really poor job of ensuring that the information passed along is accurate. Foreign Policy has an interesting article on how Twitter helped add to the worry about the current Swine Flu outbreak.
