Social networks and the citizen journalist
Mainstream media outlets are reaching out to a new source to gather information for their readers: the readers themselves.
One recent arrival in the "citizen journalist" game is Fox News, which this week pulled the wraps off its UReport service. Like CNN's I-Report and MSNBC's First Person, UReport is Fox's attempt to tap into the desire of users to create and share content on the Internet.
The popularity of social networking sites like MySpace and user-generated content sites like YouTube are inducing traditional news organizations to rethink their approach to the Web.
Outfits like Fox News, CNN, USA Today and MSNBC have begun to incorporate social networking tools into their sites, as well as actively soliciting content from their users.
