MediaGuardian writes about how ordinary people reported from the bomb-struck city. These eye witness accounts quickly spread thoughout the world, just not on the internet but they were invaluable for the traditional media too.

“Within minutes of the first blast we had received images from the public,” says Boaden [Director of news at BBC]. “We had 50 images within an hour. Now there are thousands. We had a gallery of still photographs from the public online, and they were incredibly powerful.”