Students Say Something Through Social Networking

Text messaging, IMs, video messaging, emailing, podcasts, and weblogs, oh my! Add social newtworking sites like Facebook and MySpace to the equation and you have over a thousand ways to remind your spouse to pick up some milk on his or her way home from work or wish your old college roommate a happy birthday.

No longer is what you say important, but how you say it. The politics of these social networking sites have become a part of pop culture. Walking the halls of campus, I tend to hear girls over the Facebook "status" (a minute by minute feed update similar to Twitter) of a certain love interest or an arch enemy. Guys brag over the pictures they were "tagged" standing beside attractive females or expensive bottles of alcohol. 

Everything you do on Facebook is a disclaimer to the world, making the social networking site, a world of its own. Here people convene in groups for a plethora of reasons: to show solidarity for atrocities like genocide or human rights violations or share a likeness for their favorite TV shows and movie actors. In addition, users can schedule events, invite friends, and message attendees. 

Thinking about it, Facebook itself encompasses an infinite and one ways of communicating. But with a so many ways to spread a word, are what we say as important as how we say it? This reminds me of the ending to the famous poem by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, entitled, "The Paradox of Our Time:"

"A time when technology can bring this letter to you

And a time when you can choose

Either to make a difference.... or just hit, delete."

Ethics and Mobile Phones

Journalism is an industry regulated by the trust and confidence of viewers. News moguls like CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox News rely on producing fair and balanced content to maintain their reputation. And they know, jeopardizing content jeopardizes viewership and the sometimes decades-old reputation built on honest reporting.

But what about blogs? Many, if not most, don't seek to provide readers a balanced outlook but rather their own perspective - sometimes honest yet sometime malicious. In the online world, where millions of blogs come and go daily with no warning, who's to regulate content? Who's to prevent me (other than my professor who regularly checks my content) from spreading a horrible rumor?

Transferring the ethical code that has evolved throughout the many years of professional journalism into this new medium where access to publishing is almost universal is, what I believe, the first dilemma behind the industry. The second, how do we make money off it?

Now lets segue seamlessly into the second part of my post: mobile news.

I use an iPhone and recently, before being assigned to do so, downloaded an application sponsored by the Associated Press that provides up to the minute feeds of the latest stories and photographs published by the A.P worldwide. I found the application very convenient, user friendly, and effective in providing me minute by minute news feeds.

In addition, the iPhone's full browser allows me to access any news website, which many, have mobile-specific platform tailored specifically for acceess among cell phones and Smart Phones.

Literally attached to the hip of almost every American, mobile devices are becoming the starting point for consumers of news.

What's It All About

So why am adding to the slew of blogs haunting cyberspace? What do I have to say that has been said before? The answer, simply put, is that this blog is part of a quarter-long assignment for my COMM 142B: Digital Journalism class. From what I can tell, its suppose to introduce us to this new phenomena of citizen journalism - how ordinary people are delivering news and information without jumping the hurdles of traditional publishing. 

I find it the assignment interesting, given the direction the industry is going. Perhaps it plays to the adage, "If you can't beat them, join them."

In terms of content, I'll be analyzing the structure, layout, content, functionality and interactivity of six different online publications in order to better understand the direction this new medium is taking journalism. I'll review top blogs like the Huffington Post and Pajamas Media, community-specific blogs like This Iranian American Life and Beirut Spring, traditional news medias like The New York Times Online and BBC Online (if you couldn't tell by now, I have an interest in international politics, specifically in areas in and around the Middle East.)

Sit back, enjoy and please post any comments or questions you may have.