Twitter, the world's third-largest social media website, has taken on a role that nobody could have expected. It is now both breaking and making the news. To break the news means to publish a news item before anyone else. Obviously, Twitter is great for that. It gives anyone the ability to instantly publish anything he or she sees. Many people get breaking (brand-new) news via Twitter. And tweets by celebrities, from singers to presidents, can become news stories in their own right. But making the news, changing and affecting the news, is something else. How does Twitter do that? Mostly, Twitter makes news by helping people organize. Soon after Twitter was developed, people realized how useful it could be. For people planning protests or gatherings, Twitter has a great way to spread the word. After all, Twitter can reach more people in a shorter time than emailing or texting. So people started using Twitter to organize. That made sense. But then they found out something even more useful about Twitter: it could help organize people on the run. During protests around the world, from Iran to the UK and the United States, people were able to tell huge groups about where to go while they were already in the streets. People used Twitter to tell each other where roadblocks were, where a street was open, or where the police might be. Using Twitter helped the protesters organize and move more effectively. And in this sense, Twitter actually madenews. People could not have organized so well or so quickly without it. People say information is power, and the Internet has always been used to spread information. These days, Twitter is the fastest way to put that power in the hands of the public.
全球第三大社群媒體網站「推特」，成了出乎意料的重要角色。推特現在不僅推播第一手消息，還同時製造新聞。 「發佈第一手消息」意指率先公開發表新聞。顯而易見，推特是這方面的佼佼者。因為任何使用者都能藉由推特迅速發表自己的見聞。很多人均透過推特得知最新消息。從歌手至總統等名人所發佈的推文，都變成一種自媒體的新聞故事。不過，製造新聞、改變新聞、甚至影響新聞，就是另一回事了。推特到底是怎麼做到的？ 推特時常藉由協助群眾籌備活動來製造新聞。推特開始啟用此功能後，使用者很快就意識到它的實用性。對於規劃抗議或集會活動的人而言，推特是散播消息的絕佳管道。畢竟，推特傳達訊息的速度比電子郵件或手機簡訊快多了。
因此，大家會使用推特來規劃，這很合理。不過，又有人發現到更實在的用法：那就是推特可以同步更新活動進度。伊朗、英國與美國等世界各地的抗 議活動進行期間，群眾發現到儘管已經身在街頭，仍能即時告知龐大同好抗議動線。例如透過推特來提醒彼此設置路障的地點，或是哪些街道有開放，或是警察可能的所在處。運用推特能讓抗議遊行的動線更順暢。以這樣的角度而論，推特正是在製造新聞。如果沒有推特，便無法迅速又成功地辦好活動。 有人說「資訊就是力量」，而網路一直是傳播資訊的管道。推特更是最能賦予大眾力量的速效平臺。 | 
