Do you get your news from Twitter?

Like, I guess, many people, I use the BBC website to find out the latest news. Today's top five stories are:

1. Inquiry into four refinery deaths
2. Mladic faces war crimes tribunal
3. Betfred buys the Tote for £265m
4. Spain seeks E. coli compensation
5. Hackers claim another Sony attack

However, I've got to admit that recently I've found that going to Twitter and looking at the trending topics has been more enlightening with what is happening out there. It can be, admittedly, driven by the awful celebrity culture we have got ourselves mired in, but it can often bring interesting things to light. This mornings top five trending topics (ignoring hashtag trenders such as #getonmynerves) are:

1. Tinky Winky
2. Willow Sage Hart
3. Marlon King
4. Snodgrass
5. MRSA

As a football fan (and specifically a Leeds United) I was immediately drawn to "Snodgrass" - Leeds have turned down a (derisory) £3.5m bid for Robert Snodgrass - and Marlon King - Leicester fans are delighted he's signed for Coventry! I was drawn to these stories more than I was drawn to those on the BBC (maybe I should have looked at the BBC sports news).

It just makes me wonder: Could Twitter become a key source of news in the future (is it already?) because it can "trend" stories more quickly than sites like the BBC can write them up?

BBC cuts 200 websites. How many?

I see that, as part of a cost-cutting exercise, the BBC is to close down about 200 websites.

What? The BBC has over 200 websites? Obviously loads more than 200, because presumably they're cutting only a minority, not a majority.

What on earth is it doing with all those websites? It's trying to be too many things to too many people - that's what. Although people respect the BBC's views (as being accurate and impartial), they don't have to be the mouthpiece for everything.

The British Broadcasting Corporation should stick to broadcasting in the traditional sense and work on making quality programmes - the competition appears to be concentrating more and more on making dross.

Among the BBC sites to close include teen services Switch and Blast,as well as Raw, Video Nation and community site 606. I've heard of 606.

It looks like there have been far too many niche websites. Let's face it: there are plenty of other Internet players out there, who can cater for niche markets. The BBC should stick to the mainstream.