I’ve always been a fan of micro-blogging, ever since Twitter debuted long ago. Bite-sized and easy to digest, the short and often text-only posts on Twitter have always matched my own style. Forget the flashy graphics and photos — just give me the bare-bone news.
That’s why most of us will likely find out about former President Donald Trump’s trial verdict on the X platform. The fast finger-work of a reporter, influencer, or someone who just happens to be in the know will likely first tap the verdict out on X.
As you may already know, the trial is currently at a final stage. Both the defense and the prosecution have rested in what appears to be the trial of the decade. All that’s left is the closing arguments and then the deliberation over a verdict.
Of course, there will be some delay since there are no electronic devices allowed in the courtroom. That makes it even more likely that the news will reach someone outside of the courtroom who then quickly dispatches a tweet on the X service.
Speed is of the essence when it comes to news like this. I’ve been a fan of Twitter (now X) since the beginning because the app allows you to dispense with all of the fluff. An image is not required, and in the early days, it wasn’t even that important. Twitter originally was meant as a service to let people know what you were doing in the moment, long before high-end cameras were available on modern iPhones and Android devices.
This quick delivery of information has always set Twitter apart from the other social media apps. Elon Musk seems to know this intuitively, since he doesn’t always include an image in his posts and often skips using a link or even adding a hashtag. He doesn’t really have to add those ornamental extras since we just want to know what he is thinking.
Similarly, the Trump trial is all about speed of delivery. Being first (and hopefully accurate) is a differentiator in most businesses, science and engineering, sales and marketing, and in reporting the news. “How did you first hear about the verdict?” might be a question we are all asking.
For me, it will be X because that’s where I scan first to see the latest and greatest news. I don’t always believe what I read. In fact, more and more often I am doubting the news on social media. That said, it doesn’t take much to verify the news on X by clicking the link and checking if the account is legitimate, and then verifying further by checking a few more official accounts.
I believe this is what keeps many of us hooked on social media, since we know it is an unfiltered and lightning fast way to disseminate information to a large audience. You could argue there is no better way to release critical information to a large audience. Twitter has always been like sending a public text message. With a news report, there needs to be some analysis and reporting. With X, all it takes is one quick tweet.
We’ll see if the news really does break on X this time. I doubt we’ll see anything on Facebook or Instagram first, and with TikTok you have to at least create a quick video clip of some kind. I plan to check X more than other apps — we’ll see if the news breaks there first. Then, I’ll check to make sure it’s actually true.
