Twitter Leaked Obama's Visit To Afghanistan

hypnosec writes "When you're the President of the United States, sometimes certain activities you're involved in can be hard to keep secret — and yesterday was no exception, after Twitter let it slip that Obama was secretly in Kabul. On Tuesday, the White House released a fabricated itinerary — consisting of all-day meetings in the Oval Office to cover up the fact that Obama was secretly flying to Afghanistan. Whilst only a few US journalists were aware of this event, by mid-morning, a lot more people were suddenly in on the revelation courtesy of Twitter. The first tweet to let the virtual cat out of the bag was Afghanistan news site TOLOnews which reported: 'United States President Barack Obama has arrived in Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai.'"

Comments

Re:headline incorrect

[EdIII]

but we'll see posts later in this article about how Twitter's bad, etc.

How about right now?

Twitter is bad, only because it sucks.

Seriously.. what is the point? Less space than a txt message on a cell phone. It practically begs to be used for the most boring, banal, and irrelevant crap in the Universe. It is the online version of tabloids, just with less content and less bat-children.

I'm not remotely interested in having a real time feed of "Ashton Kutcher" (if it really is him and not somebody working for him) and what color his last dump was, or that his oatmeal was lumpy, or Demmy was beating the shit of him. It is an uninteresting, wholly ineffective method of personal communication that drains everything positive such interaction was designed to provide. It's a way to have a relationship without actually having a relationship. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Kutcher might be a hell of guy. I've never met him, but if I did become friends with him, I would not follow him on Twatter either.

So.. yeah... Twitter blows on its own merits. They are not responsible for other people's tweets either and it would be ridiculous to make such a claim.

Their only redeeming value to society is their contribution towards the Arab Spring, and other such movements where even short messages could be valuable.

As it stands right now it Twitter only exists because it is propped up by marketing uses. Astroturfing and statistics gathering.

Re:headline incorrect

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Wait wait wait... I'm sorry but just because of your tone I have to ask you about this: Why, on this particular story, are you asking me about what valuable stuff Twitter does after stating that it's only used for the inane dribble of attention seekers? Even though the headline is misleading, you really don't see from that blindingly obvious clue what value Twitter does offer?

Look, I'd be happy to answer your question, but seriously, drop the 'tude. I can share what I know, I'm even happy to do so, but I'm not interested in debating it. Turn your brain back on.