Citizen photo of Hudson River plane crash shows Web’s reporting power

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The astounding photo below, apparently taken from a river ferry by traveler and Twitter user Janis Krums, is one of the earliest photos to emerge of the US Airways crash into the Hudson River in New York City. Krums apparently snapped the photo with his iPhone and uploaded it to the Twitter photo service Twitpic, which was instantly brought to its knees by exploding online interest in the image.

This may be among the most striking instances yet of instant citizen reporting, a trend that was visible in the Mumbai terror attacks and has come to use the micro-blogging service Twitter as its main conduit for hyperfast transmission of info-snippets and photographs. In this case, it was possible through the iPhone, an all-in-one communications device that can capture and send images in no time.

Hat tip Silicon Alley Insider.

-- David Sarno

Photo credit: Janis Krums via Twitpic