Image from msnbc.msn.comAs a student enrolled in the journalism program at Grant Macewan this semester I have learned a lot, a lot about twitter and facebook that is. The main theme of the semester including this class seemed to be the "new wave" of social networking. It seems to me that social media and blogging are a little less than "emerging" at this point, I was on Nexopia when I was in the fifth grade. I can submit to the fact that for people who are unfamiliar with technology, or more specifically social networking, this content may be helpful; however, in reality, these websites are specifically designed for people to figure out on their own. May I remind people that social networking kingdom is ruled by 14-year-old girls.
When I visit the twitter home page there is a link clearly labeled "Twitter 101" which outlines all the features of twitter and how to use them for buisness purposes. Another example is ironically the platform I am using right now, blogger. When I Googled "blogging" blogger.com was the second hit and on the front page is a link to this Youtube video tutorial. Although, I do understand the use of blogger or sites similar to blogger to an aspiring journalist. It's good to get your name out there and it is a platform for you to write and have others read it.
This isn't a comment on this specific course though, it is a comment on the the journalism program, and the industry in general. Yes, online news is emerging, yes, it is the wave of the future, but what needs to be addressed is that writing is still writing. Technology has been advancing at an exponential rate for years now, and we (the journalism community) need to learn not to focus too much on the current forms of technological aid, but embrace how it is a constantly changing entity and will be always improving.
Once again I look at Tyler Grant's work in his post "Fact-check Twitter you Twit!" Tyler states in regards to twitter "What it comes down to is fact checking. Twitter can be useful if you're an Iranian dissident trying to get the word out of political unrest on the streets of Tehran, but it can be horrible to find out you're dead because someone made a tweet about it- poor Gordon Lightfoot." I completely agree with Mr.Grant on this one, he makes a point that twitter is still a social media network, and while news organizations are embracing it, it will remain a social networking tool. for friends to connect with each other.
What you mention in this post definitley rings true; Writing is most certainly what should be focused upon in the Journalism program. With that being said, I don't get what you were trying to do here.
ReplyDelete"I completely agree with Mr.Grant on this one, he makes a point that twitter is still a social media network, and while news organizations are embracing it, it will remain a social networking tool. for friends to connect with each other."
Was this supposed to be two sentences, or was 'for friends to connect with each other' supposed to be part of the other one, but connected with a comma?The period, and the subsequent non-capitalization of the next word is confusing. I don't know, anyways, maybe that should be revised.