California Earthquake: Twitter First, Take Cover Later

 By 
Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins
 on 
California Earthquake: Twitter First, Take Cover Later
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California suffered an earthquake a few minutes ago. So where did everyone turn to report on and follow the news? Twitter, of course - and long before any of the major news organizations can mobilize. The tweets were going by too fast to read originally. We've had a moment since they've slown down to re-edit the raw data into a usable format (and still scoop CNN and the area local news on the story).

The quake lasted about 15 seconds by most reports, started at 8:05 PM PST, was described as a "vibrating" earthquake, with no sharp jolts. Those that seemed to be long time residents of the area guessed it was around a 5.6 on the Richter scale, which was later confirmed by the USGS. No major structural damage is being reported in the area as a result of the quake.

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