I come across a fabulous use of Twitter last week – unfortunately it was related to a tragedy that it is still unfolding as this post is being written.

Twitter can be used to get live news updates from either individuals or from large news conglomerates. And the best thing is if you dont have a twitter account is you don’t need it!

Go to http://search.twitter.com/ and type in something you want updates on. The search result will list Tweets containing your search string from any Twitter user.

If it’s a hot topic your screen will advise you of new matches. All you have to do is click on refresh to get the new tweets.

I used this unique tweet search to find tweets from everyone from the recent Air France plane disappearance. Amazing some of the stories I read, and my search results were being updated at the rate of about one tweet per second.

Have a play around with it. Very handy tool on the internet.

I must say they are quite well presented and very informative. The neat little effect used to deliver these plain english explanantions is brilliant.

The URL for these videos is http://au.youtube.com/user/leelefever

There are quite a varied range of videos there – from plain english explanations of wikis to electing a US president.

By the way, if you are wanting to know more about twitter, check this out: