Twitter and the War in Syria

This past week in my other journalism class we've been talking a lot about war reporting.  We've read traditional articles detailing journalists' experiences observing war and its effects, we've seen a documentary about war told from the point of view of soldiers, and we've looked at current Twitter accounts that show various points of view about the war in Syria.  It has been interesting seeing the numerous ways you can tell a story and how these different ways of storytelling provide different perspectives as well as thinking about what works and what doesn't work in each source.  I have to say that the Twitter experience was probably my least favorite, just because it was so scatterbrained at times.  Not only are these people tweeting about Syria and you can access many different links to articles and videos on the matter, but they're also tweeting little blasts of their own opinions and on different subjects.  I think in order to make this process more meaningful and more helpful to supplement your knowledge of a war like the one in Syria, you have to follow these multiple sources almost daily so you can actually take in what they say.  Simply looking at their accounts for 15 minutes will only bring confusion and not a very informative session of reading and discovering.  I think that Twitter is extremely useful, but in order for you to get the full benefit, you have to be committed to the experience.