Twitter's strengths: Speed and reach.

This month's Self magazine is a reminder that Twitter is a tool that can be used to disseminate information quickly and to many people.  The ability to reach a large audience quickly with little production could lessen public health situations as well as alert the public to breaking news.

The trick is getting people to follow the entity disseminating the news.  Self sites a study (on p. 90 of its December 2009 issue) about people who do not check their cabinets for food that has been recalled by the FDA.  The quick bit about the potential for food poisoning ends with the fact that Twitter users can follow the FDA and receive updates about food safety. 

Assuming that the FDA updates their Twitter site as soon as a recall has been decided, the agency could inform millions of people that they should dispose of their peanut butter or whatever the contaminated food item might be before there is a rash of illness.

This ability to send quick bits of information is Twitter's strength as a journalistic tool.  People are busy and while they may not read the article on page 7 about a spinach recall in California, they could note a quick tweet and possibly check the link at a convenient time.  In addition, it's easy and fast to type a quick bit of information while preparing to do a piece for television or write the full story.  Plus, if the Twitter user gets their first notification from a certain source, they may be more likely to check back with that source for the full story.

The FDA got a boost  in exposure from Self about its food safety updates.  News organizations need to constantly remind people that updates are available on Twitter and include links to longer stories (if one exists at the time of the post).  This way, they can get the information out quickly, to many people and could potentially drive traffic to their websites.