Matthew “The Panzer” Panzarino arguing the importance of real-time networks like Twitter:
>More power to Twitter, and I hope that its business continues to grow and thrive. But for us, those of us who understand the inherent power in the real-time flow of information, we need to plan a future where Twitter isn’t the only option.

You need to read his entire post: it’s a fantastic look at why Twitter is as important as no one knows that it is. Twitter is quite literally the fastest way to find out about anything. Not only is it pure documentation of life on a second-by-second basis, it is one of the few reliable ways to find out up-to-the-moment information in a time of crisis.

To put it in a better perspective, with due respect to those involved, imagine how different the world would be today if we had Twitter before 9/11/01. How many lives could have been saved by giving real time information to all? Maybe none, maybe it still would have been too unexpected, but I like to think that not only is Twitter a great place for me to complain, it is also an amazing place to be informed and to engage in the world.

There simply is no other tool as good as Twitter is for informing the world on a moment-by-moment basis, and Panzarino is right — this is far too important of a tool to be in the hands of just *one* company.