The internet provided a kaleidoscopic view of happenings in Mumbai from the time the first shots were fired.

Through blogs and file-sharing websites, those held up in the turmoil rapidly provided accounts from the ground plus links to the best news reports appearing on the web.

One rich source of information was ‘Twitter’ that offers text-message-length information . Its Mumbai thread provided a stream of clips, not all precise, from observers on the ground, with some details of deaths, military blockade, clashes, and even the suspected names of terrorists.

‘Twitter’ is a micro-blogging service where a person with access to the Internet, either by through PC or mobile, can post information of 140 words or less to their followers. These updates also enter the public Twitter stream where anybody, follower or otherwise, can access them.

In many cases, Twitter updated developments at a faster pace as compared to many TV networks or newspaper sites. The site's contributors also questioned the actuality of some news reports, pointing out contradictions and errors.

When Indian reporters announced that the siege at the ‘Taj hotel’ was over, for example, Twitter argued that clashes were continuing.

“Locals say gunfire still happening at TAJ,” said one feed, hours after fighting was said to have finished. “Twitter comes of age - Mumbai coverage way ahead of traditional media,” added another contributor.

But the website also comprised disinforming threads, many of it aiming to be from intelligence services and much of it unsourced. There were also unverified reports - on Twitter and elsewhere - that the Indian agencies asked the site to stop its Mumbai feed, dreading terrorists could be making use of data.

Bloggers provided a ‘public service’ function, making sites, which reroute users to Foreign Office advice, police reports, helpline numbers, and Google documents having lists of the wounded and killed.

Newspaper and magazine readers had to wait for much of the gripping writing from the scene, but the blogosphere was filled with accounts from the outset.

"We stepped out again, and as we did so, we heard gunshots, and saw people running towards us ... One of the hotel employees ... told us to get back in. 'There must have been an encounter,' he said. 'Get back in, you'll be safe inside'," wrote India Uncut's Amit Varma. "Suddenly, what is familiar seems macabre."

Vinukumar Ranganathan was the first to upload pictures to the photo-sharing site ‘Flickr.’ His and others' unclear effigies from the bloodied Colaba lanes directly expressed the seriousness of the attacks.

As soon as it came out that the head of the antiterrorist squad, Hemant Karkare, had been killed, Flickr immediately contained a range of images of the administrator.

By last night Wikipedia contained over 4,000 words of detailed - and corrected - data on the attacks. After Indian TV quoted intelligence sources saying that the assaulters came by sea from the ship MV Alpha, Wikipedia ignored the report, noting later reports that the Indian navy found the ship and had no proof it was involved.