Experienced a bit of a first this weekend.

More and more, social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are beating the traditional media in the "breaking news" game.  Granted, pesky hold-ups like fact checking, sourcing and talking to witnesses sometimes keep newspapers and TV news websites from being the very first with the news, but yesterday, I felt first-hand the frustration of not being able to get news from the newspaper, only to find the breaking information I was looking for on Facebook.

About 11 a.m. yesterday, a long-time local discount furniture store went up in flames.  The store is just a half mile from my house.  I was out and about when I first saw the huge plume of smoke.  As I drove closer and closer, I realized it was VERY close to where my house was.  I got about three blocks from the fire before the police turned gawkers away.  Clearly, I knew there was a big fire, but couldn't tell WHAT was burning.

I went back out to finish errands and returned home a few hours later.  Right away, I went to websites of the local newspaper and TV stations to find out what was burning.  Nothing.  No information.

More than a little surprised, because massive fires don't happen all that often where I live, I jumped over to Facebook to check on things.  There, I found three status updates with pictures and comments on what was burning, when it started and what was happening at the scene.

I know that the work that goes into an actual news report has to answer the who, what, where, when and why.  And, it has to be right.  Yesterday, all I needed was the "what" and I got it from social media.