Storytelling and technology

My favorite feature of many many web 2.0 sites is the status update feature. Such a tiny thing is a crazy mix of personal news update, ego-exhibitionism, gossip and who knows what else (probably this is the reason why it appeals to so many people). Such a simple feature can serve many different purposes as casual or as transcendent as you can imagine. Actually there is a debate going on regarding uses of microblogging, Twitter in this case, beyond its traditional purpose.

twitter tweets...

I want to bring here the case of Twitter as an example of how users can find innovative use cases for existing technologies. Recently, going through Frog Design's blog I found this interesting post on how Twitter has been used for a real-time reenactment of the 23 feb 1981 coup d’etat in Spain. In a country that was struggling to consolidate a budding democracy those were uncertain days. I was too young to recall anything but my parents have told me how we were driving home, close to a military cantonment, not knowing if tanks would be out blocking the roads. The whole country held on to their radios and TV sets listening to the pieces of news that kept on dripping every other minute.

...also en español

Twenty eight years later, Twitter users have revisited, minute by minute, this historical event for my country. Isn't it a wonderful way of telling a story with today’s latest technical tools and language?. I am shocked with what people can come up with when given the adequate resources...