Social Media Milestones: The Miracle on the Hudson
January 15, 2009: Janis Krums tweeted US Airways flight 1549 floating in New York’s Hudson River and changed “Breaking News” forever.
“Breaking News” was never the same. When Janis Krums tweeted this photo of US Airways flight 1549 as it floated in the Hudson River, he inadvertently beat all the major networks. He was the first to bring the news to the world. It was the first time social media was used to break a major news story and it set a precedent for the dissemination of news worldwide. Today news organizations routinely use social media for breaking news alerts.
Still, an alert individual with a smartphone often beats them to the punch.
