I was browsing on Twitter when someone posted an image of a smoking building, fire trucks, and a message about a crazy explosion. Then I got a push notification on Periscope, the new live-streaming app from Twitter, about a broadcast from the scene of the accident. Suddenly I was watching a video of the fire and smoke from a block away. No news media had yet arrived on the scene.

I learned that this was potentially a building which had collapsed. Or maybe it was a gas main that exploded. It was the scene of tragedy, where people had been injured and killed. The broadcaster, Andrew Steinthal, got within a hundred feet or so before police arrived and asked everyone to disperse. Steinthal faced the camera, said how scary the whole thing had been, then signed off from his first Periscope reporting.

I was on the scene, but lacking real information

Dozens of others streams quickly popped up in his place. I had less information than I would if I had waited for a formal news crew to arrive, report out what was happening, and then pass that information back to me. With the smartphones in our pockets, we're all citizen journalists now.

As Meerkat and Periscope connect live video to the real time distribution network of Twitter, some uncharted new forms of media creation and consumption are going to emerge. We've had live-streaming apps before, and seen civilian coverage of events like Occupy Wall Street and Ferguson, but this new generation of apps is about to reach a much big audience at a much faster pace.

The live chat under the feed I watched was full of questions, concern, and gratitude for the stream. Periscope also allows users one emoji, hearts, so a disconcerting stream of colored hearts were juxtaposed against the fire and smoke.

Update March 26th, 3:50PM: According to a report from The New York Post, up to 30 people were injured in a partial building collapse. My heart goes out to anyone hurt. This was a story about the way technology is changing how we experience and report these events. I think that's something worth writing about, but my apologies to anyone who was offended.