BBC announced its new rules on tweeting breaking news, Wednesday to ensure that stories are acted on by the BBC quickly, without the delay that sending out a 140 character message would cause.

All of the correspondents, reporters and producers who work for the BBC are bound to "no tweeting news" rules.

Chris Hamilton, the BBC’s social media editor, explains:

    “Being quick off the mark with breaking news is essential to that mission. But we’ve been clear that our first priority remains ensuring that important information reaches BBC colleagues, and thus all our audiences, as quickly as possible – and certainly not after it reaches Twitter.”