Live tweeting is definitely nothing new. Nowadays, news organisations cover pretty much anything live, in whatever form they feel is appropriate. Events like protest marches get blanket live blog coverage, football matches get the treatment collated on one site, and even normal news events have reporters tweeting updates.
However, it’s still something when big organisations get in on the act, and give the general public an (almost) unrestricted view of what goes on inside an environment many of us will probably never see.
Today (October 28) from 6am for 24 hours, Sussex Police are broadcasting everything they are doing live on the internet. It’s open for anyone and everyone to watch, with cameras at a specialist search unit (which at 10:37am appears to be on a boat, getting ready to do a diving exercise), Crawley police station and the media suite. It’s thought to be the first of its kind in the UK.
Viewers to the site can comment and chat live to the people running the stream. Comments on the media suite one range from Luke H saying “great idea these live streaming, well done”, to Shaun commenting “I feel a bit sorry for these guys being paraded like goldfish. This is really the end of privacy.” The Crawley police station one has comments about contacting officers, arguments about how much money it costs, and Garry saying “I like your flowery dress!!”
A few of the tweets on the hashtag #spplive are also @andrewstuart on Twitter, or his website www.andrewwgstuart.com