It is easy for social media to be trivialized as a series of random, mundane thoughts being spurted across the internet waves. There are many times, however, that social media can be more powerful than any other form of media.
The recent earthquake in Oklahoma was felt throughout the Midwest, even causing tremors in parts of Kansas City. Before any news outlets could put together the research and resources for an official story, people in the metro area were posting statuses on Facebook and sending tweets about the incident.
This transcends Kansas City, as people with connections in Oklahoma saw their friends post about the severity of the quake in their state. The power of social media alerted the masses of connected people about a disaster. This allowed a revolutionary transfer of immediate news.
Currently, major media networks still hold the supreme power due to the overarching statistics and information gathered by professionals. Yet these small instances of news transfer through social media show the potential future of lightening fast news announcements.
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