Reading a recent article by Brian Solis about how social media Web sites such as Twitter and Facebook have changed the face and outlook of journalism made me think about how often I have seen articles on Twitter in the past month. It seems like every day I see another headline about how Twitter is blowing up. But journalists need to quit writing about Twitter's popularity and start taking advantage of it.
Getting with the program
Many news sources, such as CNN and The New York Times, have already jumped on the bandwagon, but others (mainly the ones who are already lacking a dominant Web presence) are lagging behind. As journalism turns more and more to the Internet as a means to share information, the people who are slow to catch on will be the ones soon looking for new jobs.
An industry in the midst of change
Journalism isn't dying, it is simply transitioning from one medium to another. People still need to know what's going on in the world, they are just looking online to find out instead of reading it in the morning newspaper. And, in my eyes at least, blogs and social networking sites are not a legitimate threat. For the most part bloggers are not conducting interviews with sources and digging deep to get the scoop; they are just taking information that is already available online and putting it together. Real journalists will always be needed.
A new competition
As a young journalist, I find the rapid expansion of online journalism extremely exciting. Because news consumers can get information from anywhere they want now on the Web, they are going to choose the news source that delivers the most relevant news told in the most compelling ways. This means that great journalists will get their stories shared around the world, while the sub-par are left behind. I see this as a welcome challenge.
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