@acarvin

As Twitter becomes a popular way for empowering individuals to share their own experiences and communicate with each other, some questions have been raised about its viability as a form of journalism. To some, allows “everyday citizens” to become journalist seems like it would destroy a level of professionalism and trust that is necessary for reporting current events. Twitter has given individuals involved in the Middle East uprisings a platform to share their opinion and stories. However, this style also raises some important questions: How do we know who to trust? If I am not interested in learning about an opinion, is it possible for me to selectively avoid it? What does this mean for larger media entities?
This USA Today article focuses on how Andy Carvin, an NPR senior strategist focusing on social media, deals with some of these issues and has earned him the reputation as the “maestro of the [Middle East region’s] Twitter feed” and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people. Personally, I started following Carvin a few months ago and have found that his tweets on the revolutions in the Middle East to be the most accurate and informational. As a member of a professional media outlet, Carvin works to find reliable sources of information and uses his own Twitter feed as an aggregator. Carvin’s Twitter style seems to be one way that larger media outlets or professional journalists can use new media to their advantage and diversity their source information.