Japan Reactor Story Dominates Search


Japan reactor earthquake tsunamiPeople looking for information about the Japan reactor story, just as anyone looking for breaking information on events, have taken to the internet. Something our parents and grandparents did not have in their arsenal of media research is now a center point of everyday life in virtually every nation.

With the ever growing, even called encroachment, of social media and citizen journalism major catastrophes and events of global significance very quickly dominate searches at the giants like Google. In fact for most of the day today the search terms “japan reactor” have been at the top of the Google search list.

In the highly unlikely case you are unfamiliar with the story of the nuclear reactor in Japan damaged in the earlier earthquake you may join the search fray as well. Using the search monster Google and searching for the terms Japan reactor will lead you to millions of resources including Twitter and other burgeoning social media outlets.

The question, and indeed concern, is “how is this prevalence of self-search for breaking news diluted or otherwise negatively impacted by citizen journalism?” The argument is made, and well, there is no restrictive or governing authority on what is published in the WebSphere. Even within the normally liberal leaning media there are checks and balances in the event someone publishes information that is erroneous or intentionally misleading. One need only cite the recent reports of the deaths of Adam Sandler and other celebrities who are not, quiet thankfully, dead.

What are your thoughts? Does social media help get the information out or does it muddy the waters and even cause confusion and possibly anguish?