In court with Oscar

Murder-accused Paralympian Oscar Pistorius sits motionless in the courtroom. The musty chamber is silent, save for stifled weeping, and the random rustling of paper and clothing. Saltwater wells cast a reflection from Pistorius' otherwise lustreless eyes, as he clenches a folded tissue and stares blankly ahead, awaiting his fate.

Then, after what feels like an eternity, the magistrate speaks in an unmodulated tone: "At this point in time, I cannot rule out premeditation. For the purposes of bail, we go schedule six."

I was in that musty courtroom yesterday when Pistorius took to the stand to plead for bail for the alleged murder of his model girlfriend. Most likely, so were you.

The Pretoria Magistrate's Court has a capacity of about 60 people - yesterday it was packed beyond capacity with about 100. Essentially, though, thousands more were there - thanks to the Internet and the reach of social media.

If you are anything like me, or like any of the multitude that has been shaken to the core by the Valentine's Day murder of local FHM model Reeva Steenkamp, allegedly by one of SA's most inspirational beating-the-odds stories, you were glued to your Twitter feed as events unfolded yesterday.

With over 500 million people signed up to Twitter, and an almost unprecedented global interest in the shocking turn of events involving SA's 'Bladerunner', the site has been host to spectacular media frenzy since the Beeld newspaper broke the news on the morning of 14 February - via Twitter.

Indeed, Twitter has become far more than a 140-character social micro-blogging Web site - it has become a vital source of news, and a platform through which everyday people all over the world can live vicariously.

And, with the extensive media contingent present at the Pistorius bail hearing, live vicariously we did.

As far as being first with breaking news goes, this is not the first time Twitter has trumped traditional media.

Twenty-seven minutes before mainstream media broke the news of singing sensation Whitney Houston's death this time last year, Twitter had the story.

The power of Twitter lies in its rapidity and ability to propel news to viral status, just as much as it does in its pervasiveness.

In between a White House announcement of a late-night press conference and US president Barack Obama's statement to the world that Osama bin Laden had been killed in May of 2011, a Twitter member had already broken the news.

When US Airways flight 1549 crashed into New York's Hudson River, in January 2009, Twitter was there first, with news and photographs.

In lighter news, Google's Nexus One smartphone was sighted on Twitter (in 2009) before its official unveiling in early 2010 - one of many examples of product launches being exposed on the social media site first.

While many may be sceptical as to the credence Twitter possesses - especially when it comes to issues of a more grave nature - there is no denying the power this tool has to inform. In fact, academics have given Twitter the nod as a credible source of information, by cementing guidelines as to how one cites a tweet in academic papers.

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck dubs Twitter, "the most powerful news-breaking medium yet".

The power of Twitter lies in its rapidity and ability to propel news to viral status, just as much as it does in its pervasiveness.

On Twitter, when big news breaks, it explodes. In the case of the Oscar Pistorius shooting, Beeld posted the tweet a little after 8am. Just minutes after technology journalist Aki Anastasiou used the platform to share the news, the world knew about it.

In an effective conception of just how rapidly Twitter can permeate global society, media commentator Gill Moodie published a visualisation of Twitter talk, with the hashtag #OscarPistorius, last week. It clearly shows how quickly news of the shooting spread beyond SA's borders.

Twitter is changing the face of news. It is changing how - and how quickly - the world gets it, it is changing the dynamics of global society as we know it, and it is changing how we experience the world.

I know this because - although I was nestled in between my office chair and laptop yesterday - I was also in that courtroom with a crestfallen Oscar Pistorius. I experienced the emotions, smelled the musty air, heard the random rustling and saw the tears. And, thanks to Twitter, I will be there again today.