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
I definately understand what you mean about paying for your education and then having to consider bloggers collegues, that bites. A lot of bloggers I know don’t do it for the journalism side though. I know one woman who uses her blog to chronicle her 11 month old son’s urea cycle disorder and create a forum for people like her son to come and share experiences.
It is really cool that the Journalism school at WVU will be offering a class on social media. Even though I love networking on social media, and so consider myself pretty knowledgable about these sites’ capabilities, there is still a lot that I do not know. These are the type of classes that, although they teach very new concepts, will be helpful to our generation when we graduate.
I think that offering classes on social media at WVU will be great for journalism students. They are essential tools that will help us further our careers as journalism students. I love it when teachers use Facebook or Twitter because they help keep me more organized.
I know tons of people who hate me for it, but I’m all about Social Media and I’m really glad WVU classes are starting to explore it.