The photo above first aired on CNN and was sent in by someone who was supposedly in the supermarket at the time — what CNN terms as an iReporter. Sure, it is very possible that many of the paper goods were shaken to the ground during the 15-20 seconds in which the ground, building, and everything else shook. But how are we to know when to believe whether a photo or video is faked, fabricated, or Photoshopped? CNN’s iReport Terms of Use addresses nothing about photo manipulation or regulations. And, to be fair, it’s not just citizen reporters that purposely fake photos for effect or attention, there are the memorable lessons in photojournalism fakery brought to us by the likes of Reuters, the LA Times and most recently, the Iranian government (and here are more.

Considering the small size and low resolution of the above photo, I won’t venture to investigate the possibility that it was digitally manipulated or whether it’s an honest to goodness eyewitness photo. But below, you’ll see a few surveillance camera or eyewitness camera viewpoint of what is clearly either real footage of the earthquake and it’s after affects, or simply fakes.

REAL:

See also: Earthquake as experienced on the set of Big Brother

FAKE:

Twitter cofounder Biz Stone commented on the Twitterquake phenomenon this afternoon on the Twitter blog (see image below):

Whether it’s updates from best friends, internet pals, companies, brands, or breaking world events, the real-time aspect of sending and receiving Twitter updates continues to motivate our work.

Zoliblog comments on the meaning of Twitter breaking two recent California earthquakes as well as recent quakes in China and Japan:

People do take advantage of the relative naivete of social media and donâ€t hesitate to post fake news to gain 5 minutes of fame. But that doesnâ€t undermine the importance of speed, which in some cases can provide early alerts and potentially save lives. We need both.

I think the true power of tools like Twitter and social media sites like youtube andn even 12seconds is it’s ability to broadcast to your contacts/peers/circle without a net and without delay. You don’t have to gather or collect either yourself or relevant data like officials and news wires / outlets must. You only need to react, in 140 characters or less.

For more on fake photojournalists, check out this conversation last week on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.

@thevixy – first tweet on earthquake – 1142 a.m., originally uploaded by revolute.

I waited 3 years to feel one and it was not an insignificant shake at 5.8 5.4 — epicenter 30 miles east of the house. Naturally, all the action was on Twitter — I went straight there to confirm and immediately knew that it was felt as far as San Diego and some appeared to feel a stronger quake than I did (see second photo). Moments later it was confirmed by USGS — a 5.8 quake.