Twit...tweet...Twhat?, Isaac Kaplyuk

Twitter. At first, I thought it was just another social-networking fad that would explode, and then fall into obscurity as others overtook it (Myspace Vs. Facebook, for example), but as I was forced to open an account for another class, I began to see the merits of using Twitter.


First off, Twitter can work like an RSS feed. Since every major publication/entity/celebrity/organization, etc; is hopping on the Twitter bandwagon and starting their own accounts, it's a great place to pop in and get a sense of what's going on in the world, quickly and easily. So, like an RSS feed, you find the 'friends' you want to follow, (for example, a spritely mix of the Edmonton Journal, New York Times, a band or two, an electronic gaming site, the Poynter Institute, and Adam Jones, a freestyle motocross rider) and their 'tweets' (short blurbs less than 140 characters that contain text and links) which let you know what's going on in their world. In the case of friends like the Edmonton Journal, the New York Times, their tweets will let you know what's happening in the world of news, while your 'music' friends will let you know what's happening in their particular world of music, the Poynter institute will tweet valuable things in regards to Journalism, and Adam is just hilarious, posting tweets that are more like facebook statuses that provide no real valuable insight, but are funny to see mixed in with other Tweets. (Just got a freakin massive return!!!! I'm goin to the butt huts! Well not really but I'm still excited! )

At first, I thought Twitter was just a glorified Facebook status (in Adam's case, it pretty much still is) but, as I've began using Twitter, I've discovered Twitter actually does have its uses. When used properly, one can actually use Twitter as an RSS feed (like I do) and keep informed about what's happening in the world, just like Chelsey does. With every major news organizations using Twitter, it is easy to 'follow' them and stay in the know, without having to waste your time surfing the internet or reading the paper. Twitter is a medium that allows both venerable news organizations and anyone/anything else you are interested in following to update as frequently as they want, and provide links to pictures, video, and audio to make a full story. It's quick, it's easy to use, and will keep people informed about the things that are pertinent to them by only choosing to follow who they want.

*Note: Image courtesy of: zoominfoblogger.files.wordpress.com

How Credible is Sports Blogging.

Image from www.podbean.com

Blogging spawned the ever-changing world of sports blogging. Sports blogging basically consists of articles displaying the facts of the sport briefly and then discussing the writers opinion. Sports blogging comes in two varieties, the average joe and his discussion on his hometown team, and the professionals and former players who give a fairly accurate analysis and have very credible and close sources inside leagues.


The first of the two is usually speculation although there are some gems to be found as with any kind of blogging. Although some times you end up with blogs like "The Officially Unofficial Missisipi State Athletics Blog ,"which displays its lack of reasonable credibility when you read the latest post "Seriously. WTF is going on with our coaching search. Greg Bryne truly is some kind of ninja. Don't worry Greg. Take your time. Make a great a hire." This is the more opinionated form of sports blogging and kind of fits under the category of normal run of the mill blogging. There is much more journalistic tendencies found in official blogs for leagues like the NFL or NHL.

I feel the official sports blogs that are connected to the leagues contain much more quality blogging and information. They appear much more like a twitter feeds with quick inside updates, or like the columns in a newspaper. An example of this is the the NFL blogs on NFL.com. In the articles there is much more credible and legitimate information. for example the linked article "Why is Gaither available" which demonstrates how near the author is to the league in the first sentence "Jared Gaither keeps popping up on the rumor mill as one of the restricted free agents who is drawing interest from teams around the league." The blog can say things of this nature and it can be taken as fairly credible as the author has various constant connections throughout the league.

Blogging as well as social media are adapting to sports really well. Twitter can be very useful to get information fast from all around a particular sport, but as in blogging, source can be sporadic and not taken for credible. In Erik Nelson's post "Birds Will Tweet," he states the benefits of twitter in a journalistic sense "Twitter opens up options for journalists to create news posts and updates while on the field where it would be otherwise impossible to get the information out to the public,"

Blogging and social media are finding a home in sports, and leagues are beginning to adapt to get the mass amounts of information out faster than ever.

Journalism 'Next'

Image from www.thompsonfoundation.org

Since the inception of the world wide web in 1991, its popularity has grown immensely over the years, and has exploded in the last ten. It has changed the way people receive and send information, shop, research, network and much more;moreover, it has changed the face of journalism, allowing professionals and amateurs alike to post their content almost immediately to the world wide web, which also allows for instant access to a large reader audience.



In regards to journalism, it has also changed the way current and future journalists do their job. Breaking news can now be posted within minutes of the occurence, and can be linked to many networking sites in which the vast public can have access to. Applications such as Google Reader and Twitter are part of the immense Mark Briggs coined 'Journalism 2.0' movement. These sites allow people to subscribe to their favorite news sites (via RSS delivered feeds in Google Reader) or subscribe, or 'follow' various entities (whether they be singular celebreties, politicians, or news organizations such as The L.A Times, N.Y Times, Edmontion Journal, etc;) via Twitter and receive instanteous updates from whomever they are 'following' on Twitter. Journalists can also keep readers informed by having their own blogs, as well as maintaing a strong web prescense so that they can develop a sort of 'brand'. This helps to build a solid credibility online, directing more reader's eyeballs towards their own content as opposed to other 'fluff' on the internet.

Technoligical advances such as the iPhone, and other alike 'smart' phones are also a big addition to the working journalist's tool bag. Reporters caught unprepared in the middle of a breaking story can quickly use their iPhone, for example, to capture a news scene on video, edit it, post it to their respective news sites for people to read and view, all within minutes. Having tools like these can allow for immediate news consumption, making it truly as 'new' as possible, for it can be posted within mere minutes of something happening, increasing newsworthiness and relevance. People can also access applications on such phones anywhere, anytime, anyplace (service permitting) to gather news and other relevant information, making journalism as a whole a much more instantaneous process.

In a recent example, reporters and journalists are on scene at Port-au-Prince where mutliple, devestating earthquakes have occured, is documented by reporters using nothing but their iPhone, capturing as much news as possible, and posting it online within mere minuteres for people to view. Here's the link to the story: http://www.capmac.org/iphonesig/?p=3112

Video was also shot by the reporter, aiding in helping to tell a story, using visuals, which is another aspect of Journalism 2.0, along with anything else that helps tell a story, apart from the paper its written on or the blog its located in. It can be visuals ,audio, video, interactive flash sites, and much, much more. All of this is located on the Internet, and as technology progresses the access to the Internet is becoming much more widespread and accessible. With people being able to access the web just about anywhere, anytime from their mobile phones or computers, journalism is being taken to a new level as both reporter and reader can both upload and access information in a much more intuitive and dynamic interface. As the internet is made more and more accessible, and the devices that harness the power of the internet made more attainable, the face of journalism, news gathering and news consumption is changing as rapidly as the news that happens. The line between citizen journalist and career journalist continues to blur, but solid writing will still be the basis of all the writing that is out there, and will seperate the casual reporter from the serious career journalist.