iPhone 3GS, o2 and Twitter Journalism

Information travels really really fast these days. As quick as Apple had announced the new iPhone 3GS in San Francisco last night, it was tweeted all round the world. Those twitterers in the UK then began their online barrage of investigations to find out how quickly and cheaply they could upgrade their existing phones (as most of them already had the blessed device).

The @o2 twitter was flooded with questions, tweets on #o2 and #iphone flocked. Eventually disappointment became #o2fail trend as the sheer cost of having to get out of an 18 month contract early to get a phone that is updated every 12 months became apparent. Of course these phones cost money to make but so many were hoping for a deal.

Then the Daily Telegraph did a piece early this morning in a rising trend of “twitter” opinion journalism. What better way to do a popular opinion piece than simply read the twitter feeds and form an article giving the views that transpire?

I phoned poor o2 customer services this morning and they obviously haven’t been fully briefed yet. Overnight a product was launched, discussed, o2 tariffs investigated, quizzed, condemned and a newspaper has written up the whole story from twitter feeds.

Max O’Malley – sometimes he blinks and misses everything