Date published: 14 July 2010
The bomb in south Armagh caused extensive damage
When a bomb exploded in south Armagh last Saturday, Facebook, Twitter and similar websites buzzed with updates on what had happened from those living close to the scene. Journalist Paul Rocks looks at how social media is impacting on how and when news is reported.
This normally starts with the Kipling procedures of what, where, when, why, who, how and entails countless calls to the police press office and contacts living near the area to get whatever small titbits of information you can find.
But when a bomb exploded in south Armagh on Saturday, I saw a scenario play out on the social networking site Facebook that took the newsgathering process to a completely new level.
The device was detonated on a country road at 1730 BST, blowing a crater in the road and damaging a stone bridge. The police believe it was an attempt by dissident republicans to kill its officers.
Shook
From what followed on Facebook it was clear that it was heard for miles around.
Within minutes of the blast my niece posted: "Did anyone hear a bomb?"
It was like the jungle drums had sounded all across south Armagh with replies from Bessbrook to Cullyhanna in seconds.
"It was really loud - my whole house shook," said Natasha.
"People in Silverbridge heard it, so it might be in Newtown(hamilton)," replied Laura.
Seconds later a worried Tanya posted: "It must be near me because it sounded really loud."
Within just 20 minutes, Stacey wrote: "Bomb was on the Carrickrovaddy Road - they blew a bridge up." Which is exactly what happened.
At this stage I thought I had better put a call in to a journalist colleague who was on duty and let him know what was happening.
The police press office had no details of the incident, which was not surprising as they would not have had time to even get to the scene by that point.
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Posted by: Rachel
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