Twitter, a social-networking site, has had a profound impact on journalism.   Paul Jones, UNC Professor and Director of Ibiblio.org says that Twitter has become another venue to stay connected to current events.

With the controversy of the presidential election in Iran, many social sites have been blocked from the citizens.  However, Twitter has put the role of journalist in the hands of every day people.  When the Iranian government forgot to ban Twitter, the networking site became a venue to help Iranians inform each other -and the world -about the ensuing violence due to the protests.

The only requirement for “Tweeting,” the term used to describe the action of Twitter, is that users answer the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less.  Answers to this question typically consist of "I’m washing the dishes" or "I’m taking a nap."  However, twitter breaks into the world of journalism when tweeted answers offer information about breaking-news before media outlets have even received the story.

Jones says like the uncertainty of Myspace and Facebook sustainability, Twitter could either become a permanent trend or a passing fad depending on how the management treats the users.

Whether or not Twitter is around for good has yet to be determined, for right now, Twitter has become the IT social-networking site for the times.