Twitter Goes To Court

Running head: Twitter goes to court

Twitter goes to court

University of Phoenix

BSA/500

�

Twitter goes to court

A web based collaboration service called "Twitter." According to twitter.com (2009), "Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" Twitters' popularity has grown at such a rapid rate; a federal judge has allowed the use of the service in his court room. The use of the Twitter service is now the center of a mistrial.

According Magrid (2009) of CNET.com news, "U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Marten gets it. He's the judge who has allowed a reporter to Twitter court proceedings in a trial of six Crips gang defendants taking place in his Wichita, Kan., courtroom." (para. 1) Judge Thomas J. Marten told the Associated Press; "The more we can do to open the process to the public, the greater the public understanding."

English: Twitter headquarters at 795 Folsom Street...

twitter logo map 09

English: Jack Dorsey and Barack Obama at Twitter T...

(Magrid, 2009) When asked about lawyers' concerns that jurors might be influenced by the tweets, he said that jurors are always told to avoid broadcasts, newspaper, and online reports. (Magrid, 2009) Judge Marten maybe the first federal judge to allow a reporter to use a social collaboration service to record the proceeding of a trial. The jury is still out on the use of twitter becomes a norm.

The twitter service became the center of attention in a court room in Arkansas. A $12.5 million verdict is being challenged in Arkansas over a juror sending "tweets" - the 140-character posts on the Twitter micro-blogging network. (Sylvester, 2009) Lawyers for the defendant claim the juror filed eight tweets from his cell phone: "One read in part: "oh and nobody buy...