The devastating Japan earthquake and tsunami that the world has been witness to, has been brought to viewers not just from tv, but also instant video uploads and social networking sites. Where ever you look in the last 2 days has seen the latest news on the Japanese Earthquake has been on your TV set and with rolling news channels on 24 hours.
But a new kind of news feed on whats happening as it is happening, comes from the internet. Youtube has been getting video uploaded by people in the disaster zone, and they have also been posting on Facebook and Twitter.
These sites have been used to convey whats happening, along with these and other online video sites have allowed people to show what is happening as it happens.
Twitter has been used to convey messages of support to people directly affected by the earthquake and the following Tsunami, offer thoughts on media coverage and share images of the natural disaster.
On YouTube, users have uploaded their videos of the earthquake and following tsunami footage drawn from various sources around the world, including original film clips from home camcorders. YouTube users can use the site to follow the earthquake and the tsunami that followed it.
A few years ago we had to rely on the news channels for information but there were over a thousand tweets every minute after the earthquake struck in Tokyo. Video was uploaded straight after it happened. Now there is a new news channel with millions of commentators and film crews bringing instant, first hand accounts of the stories as they happen.