Breaking news spreads fast on Twitter

Newshounds: If you want to be the first to find out about breaking news, then you should consider joining Twitter or Facebook, or both!

Twenty minutes after Newschannel 5 posted a story about a second oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico to  WPTV's social media pages , the station was inundated with tweets and comments.

Many Facebook fans told Newschannel 5 that it was the first place they had heard about the explosion in the Gulf.

If you have a Twitter account and are not quite sure what breaking news sources to follow, we have some tips.

Of course, we'll begin with @WPTV , and, for traffic updates in Palm Beach County and on the Treasure Coast, we recommend that you follow Newschannel 5 and Lauren LaPonzina's tweets via @wptvTRAFFIC.

Other Twitter tips for breaking news:
@ nprnews

@cnnbrk

@IronMillNS

@USAT_Breaking

@washingtonpost

@BreakingNews

Another way to find out about breaking news fast, try typing #breakingnews into the search bar on Twitter.