It’s REAL Time!

It’s REAL Time!

Someone just said something stupid on television. A singer is performing and they cough mid-song. An athlete collapses on the field. A 12 year old has a gun at a preschool. The wind just kicked up to 90 mph out of no where, with no warning in Joplin. Someone just tweeted about Obama and the FBI showed up at their front door. Whitney Houston is possibly dead.

Real time.

Right when it happens.

For years journalists have raced through weather, crowds, without sleep, not even sure where they are going but knowing a story is breaking and they must chase it.

The prize was given to the one who could report quickly, as it happened. The plane just crashed, who will arrive at the scene first to give first-hand information.

Now, a passenger can post on their Facebook page that the pilot just saved us from a near fatal crash and my arm is broken!

Real time used to be a term only computer geeks used. Now we use it so casually on social media it makes one stop and think to themselves, “I am hearing this AS IT HAPPENS.”

The news breaks so fast, the rumors fly, the slips get posted and the information goes OUT to the entire world, instantly.

Real- Not artificial, fraudulent or illusory. Occurring or existing in actuality.

Time- The measured or measurable period during which an action, process or condition exists or continues.

While we work. While we sleep. While we live.

Social media created the real time world for us all.

With Love,

Sandi Krakowski