SA glued to Twitter to grab court updates, post condolences

LOOKING for the latest on Oscar Pistorius? Just check your Twitter feed.

Social media has become the broadcast medium for the Pistorius bail application case.

Twitter has been flooded with comments, condolences and updates on events in Courtroom C of Pretoria Magistrate’s Court and the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp a week ago.

Many people have tweeted that they cannot get away from the platform, and are pretty much addicted to the case.

Chief magistrate Desmond Nair limited media coverage in the courtroom, which meant Twitter was a way to get the news in colourful snippets, with local media and the likes of BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera sending out tweets.

South Africans abroad were saying they were grateful to be able to keep up with developments even in far-flung destinations like Jakarta, Indonesia.

Barry Bateman, journalist for Eye Witness News, has gone from under 10 000 Twitter followers to more than 100 000 in the past week, covering the events surrounding Pistorius.

Pretoria News’s Yolande du Preez, who has been one of dozens of local and foreign reporters covering the court case, said that all day Tuesday she was getting notices that she had another follower.

“Some people have even thanked me.

“You can see people in court tweeting furiously all the time, it’s crazy,” said Du Preez.

Karyn Maughan of news channel eNCAnews tweeted to assure her followers that she was fine after briefly passing out in the crushing media queues at court on Wednesday.

While journalists in court have live-tweeted what is being said, other journalists add colour to the facts by tweeting events related to the Pistorius case taking place outside the court building.

This reporter (@ LalivZ) kept followers up to date with the protests outside court, and even Kenny Kunene’s wardrobe.

“Kenny Kunene arrived looking fly in jeans and a blue blazer with red trimming. Killer white shades,” she tweeted on Thursday.

Or even that all was quiet. “Still nothing to report outside. Journos reading papers.”

Even Pistorius’s siblings were tweeting.

Carl and Aimeé Pistorius have tweeted over recent days that they were praying for Reeva Steenkamp’s family, as “my brother asked”. Aimeé tweeted on Tuesday that her thoughts were with Reeva’s family.

@ carlpistorius: praying unceasingly 4 Reeva’s family like my brother asked, praying for my brother @OscarPistorius! #keepeternityinmind.

@ AimeePistorius: Reeva’s family in my thoughts today.

Then there were those who offer their opinions on whether Pistorius could be believed, and their thoughts on the quality of the police investigation.

The platform erupted after the sports star was granted bail yesterday – and one can only imagine what will happen when the case comes to trial.