This isn’t just a blog – it’s a new tool for reporting!

Forget a notebook and pen.

The list of new tools a journalist needs won’t even fit on one page.

When you combine online news, citizen journalism and social networking sites, all of a sudden we have citizens reporting on news through…

Journalists need to keep up-to-date with nearly all of these tools, especially Twitter, Facebook and a personal blog, in order to simply keep track of popular topics and stories for the day and even be the first to break news.

I mean, if Twittering 140 characters or less isn’t the fastest way to break a news story, I don’t know what is.

ABC News is just one of many media organisations ‘tweeting’ news stories.

Listen to how journalists are using these social media sites, but take careful note of their advice regarding what you can trust when it comes to reading ‘tweets’ and ‘posts’.

Basically, these tools are making news stories more easily accessible and up-to-date. Rather than waiting for the daily paper or the 6 o’clock news bulletin, the public can find out news updated to the minute.

Again however, we ask the question – will online news and social media be the death of the newspaper?

(I like the joke at the end – the newspaper is selling less, however by providing free news online, the media moguls aren’t doing too well there either!)

So next time I’m on Facebook or Twitter when I should be doing homework, maybe I’m not wasting my time after all…

…and don’t forget to follow me!