Dominating the news this week has been one topic – health care reform. In the midst of all the pundits and politicians debating the details of the bill and the effect it will have on Americans, there was another story stealing some headlines: Vice President Joe Biden’s choice of words during his speech to congratulate President Obama on the passage of health care reform.

What I find most interesting about this event isn’t so much Biden’s choice of words, but rather what happened after he made the statement and the response from the White House. Sure, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs could have issued an official statement or addressed the press corps directly, but instead he turned to social media, more specially, Twitter, with the following tweet: “And yes Mr. Vice President, you’re right…”

This brief, 41-character tweet is just one of many recent examples of the power of social media as a communication tool. From world events such as the earthquake in Haiti or the protests of the presidential election in Iran last June, Twitter has provided – and will continue to provide – a new way to report on the stories of the day.

Whether you’re a fan or Twitter, or not, the social media tool is here to stay and will most likely continue to explode…and continue to report on explosions (verbal and otherwise) that happen in this world we share.