News from Japan: from smartphone to smartphone

Thanks to Marc Settle for pointing me to this blog which highlights how news of the Japanese disaster was both sent and received on smartphones. As the writer, New York-based journalist Ryan Kim, points out:

"The growth of smartphones has helped turn natural disasters like the Japanese earthquake into far more personal, powerful and real-time events for both the people on the ground and the many more around the world consuming the news. Many woke up today and got their first taste of the devastating earthquake from their smartphones."

With the same kind of phones being used to transmit, the circuit is complete:

"It's amazing how instinctively many people reach for their smartphone to document stuff that's happening, even when their life is in peril."

In a previous blog here, Paul Brannan urged the BBC to gear up to present news in a more narrative, updating form. The process Kim describes shows the need for big news organisations to find a place in the conversation.