Journalists are already a competitive
bunch, elbowing each other for stories as we grasp for work in a crowded field
surviving on a shrinking pot of funding. We work in a world where TIME put an Instagram
photo on the cover of its magazine a few years ago. With social media,
the story is already out there before a journalist can make a buck off of it. There
are plenty of ways to keep an edge over the social media savvy. But journalists
now need to use those opportunities to close the understanding gap that comes
from understanding news, not just breaking it.
If
our focus on social media is primarily about how to use them as “tools” for
journalism, we risk getting it backward. Social media are not so much mere
tools as they are the ocean we’re going to be swimming in—at least until the
next chapter of the digital revolution comes along. What needs our attention is
how we’re going to play roles that bring journalistic values into this vast
social media territory. It is essential to begin by understanding various
social media sites and the ways they can enhance the work journalists do. A
regular perusal of sites like 10000words.net
and savethemedia.com is a great way to
do this.
