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Guilty or Not Guilty, Why Wait For the Verdict?
Twitter has evolved over the past year into more than just your typical social networking site. The ‘micro-blogging’ system is now worth around $3.7bn and attracted over 100 million members in 2010 alone. Lately the merits of twitter have been debated on a larger scale with many discussing just how it can be utilised outside of the celebrity spectrum. During the recent WikiLeaks trial a senior judge ruled that tweets can be sent from inside courtrooms. This allows reporters, internet bloggers and even members of the public to report on what’s going on inside the courtroom through the use of their laptops, just as long as they are quiet!
Although permission was granted by the judge in the case, each individual presiding judge will reserve the right to stop the events of the courtroom being ‘tweeted’ if they feel that it may interfere with justice. Each judge can also restrict the use of Twitter to reporters and not trial spectators if there are any concerns over there being a fair trial. The judge who approved the use of Twitter throughout the Julian Assange WikiLeaks trial did so after heavy consultation on the issue. His guidelines on the use of micro blogging within the courtroom will be used as a bench mark for other judges who can either accept or decline live text based communication in open court.
The acceptance of social media within the courtroom is a significant step especially when you consider that photography and sound recording is still banned. In the last year the site has been embraced by many high profile organisations and establishments including the Royal Family, airports and the even the police. With real time updates on events happening around the world appearing in our Twitter feeds each day, it seems that 2011 will definitely be the year of the tweet.
Add some royalty to your twitter feed: http://twitter.com/theroyalfamily