Twitter Citizen Journalist Jonathan Nipp Reports Plane Crash At Amsterdam Schipol Airport First

Active users on Twitter are taking it upon themselves to report events as they happen in real time.  Guests in a hotel being attacked by terrorists in Mumbai reported what was happening.   Janis Krums first reported the Hudson River plane crash and sent a Twitpic of the plane in the water.  Earlier today Jonathan Nipp of Amsterdam first reported an accident that took place at the Schipol Airport.

Within a couple of hours of reporting “Airplane crash @ Schipol Airport Amsterdamn!!” many news outlets were contacting him.  He was interviewed by CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and 3fm.

“This is a story that broke on Twitter first and continued to unfold from there. Eyewitnesses were posting comments about the shock of seeing the plane ‘dive’ and amazement of passengers walking out of the wreckage,” stated iReport international correspondent Errol Barnett.

The first dramatic image of the crash appeared on Twitter  It was sent by an eyewitness driving by the A-9 highway.

“This proves that social networking sites can be a real asset in covering breaking news and gathering eyewitness accounts but the web should always be treated with extreme caution,” added Barnett.  “We make a concerted effort to reach out to people posting on the Internet to verify what they say matches up with official accounts.”

[via CNN]

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