When misfortune strikes, Twitter becomes an essential source of eyewitness information, and that proved to be the case again during the Aurora incident. The hashtag appeared and the tweets began flowing.

As they did, they began to be packaged in interesting ways that sharpened the events for people. Poynter Editor collected a series of tweets for a piece that poignantly captured the mood change among the would-be victims of the Aurora carnage from their excitement about the attending the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in the days preceding the theater shootings to the horror as the rampage unfolded.

Twitter also served as a way for some news outlets to to the events in Aurora in real time. That kind of "man in the street" story is nothing new to newspapers, but reactions on Twitter have a conversational feel to them not found in a question and answer exchange between reporter and subject.

For some followers of the tragedy, social media humanized the victims in a unique way. Observed : "I know more about these victims thanks to their tweets and blogs that will forever have its print on the web. Untouched."

Social media also allowed another group to humanize themselves: Singers like Justin Timberlake and Rihanna, actors like Eva Longoria and John Stamos, and sports figures like Kurt Warner and LeBron James tweeted their sympathies to the Aurora victims.