11/18 Readings

I loved the 10 Ways Journalism Schools are Teaching Social Media that was featured on Mashable.  I know that at WVU’s J-School, social media is becoming more relevant as far as course content goes.  The school will start offering a class on social media next semester, and many classes & professors already have Twitters, Facebooks and blogs.  I know I can agree with several items on the list: I’ve personally used social networking sites for news gathering and research while writing stories for the DA (#3); a classmate of mine who works at Racer X magazine said her boss is using Facebook and Twitter (follow him here) to promote the magazine, and it’s helping (#1); and myself and others have used social networking sites to promote our work and make a personal brand out of ourselves (#8).

Next, let’s look at the Fanselow piece on community blogging.  This is a topic I have a harder time with: bloggers and “citizen journalists.”  I’m all for people starting blogs and reporting on things they are passionate about, but as someone paying a lot of money to get a degree in journalism, it’s hard to accept novice bloggers as colleagues!  Even so, that’s the direction journalism is moving in.  I can name a number of experienced reporters who now blog in order to keep up with the evolving media, but large groups of citizen bloggers probably have the most impact.  I think some community blogs (just like Locally Grown) can almost be seen as another form of political involvement – rather than taking a petition around town or rallying outside of city hall to get things changed, members of a community can provide well thought-out answers to a blog that can reach anybody with Internet, therefore making a much larger impact.

-Paige Lavender