Twittertastic

As far as first thoughts go on the articles, I just kept saying "yes! yes!" when I read through each of them. I follow Cindy on Twitter, so I was able to check these out over the weekend. But now to more in-depth analysis...

Staying with the topic of Twitter, I guess you could say I was an early adopter. I started an account in early 2007, but abandoned it because I never felt I was using it effectively. I created another account @mairalg while interning at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and I'm pretty happy with it so far. It's an excellent tool for newspapers and Web sites to get short bits of information out the public quickly. While the Star-Telegram had a Twitterfeed (@dfwtwits), some of the reporters had accounts as well which had a better following because actual people were updating those as the Newspapers that Twitter post found in most cases as well. And in case you guys haven't checked it out, Rick Sanchez of CNN has a show at 2 p.m. where he Twitters throughout with viewers about whatever news topics he's covering. You can follow him @ricksanchezcnn. It really is one of the first television shows to use this technology live and I think he does a good job.

From practicum to higher education, I would agree that there is a major gap as the NAA article so wonderfully explained. I liked this article in particular because it emphasized a few points I believe are critical to students and journalism schools.

First, I like that it had a positive attitude toward social networking. It is an important communciation tool and not just something where I go to post pictures of my dogs and see who is dating who. That's why I like Cindy's classes so much because she gets it. She knows how important it is for the media to know it is just another useful item for the reporting toolbox. Thankfully she is one of many out there that also get it.

I had the privilege to meet Alberto Ibargüen, the president and chief executive officer of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, when MTV brought the entire Choose or Lose Street Team to New York in January. The Knight Foundation is sponsoring the Choose or Lose project with a hefty grant in order to do our groundbreaking coverage of the 2008 elections. This organization is helping lead the charge into new media adaption and I love that he said some schools "are as proud as they can be that they are traditional journalism schools, devoted and dedicated to doing the journalism of the 1960s and 1970s." Those are the ones that will suffer in the coming years if they don't get on course and teach students what they need to know to get a job in the industry, which isn't easy right now.

The MediaShift entry really summarizes it all from the perspective of a student. While I do believe Alana Taylor could have been a little more tactful in her entry, she is an example of what some students think about the industry and how they are acting on their own to gain multimedia skills. It's a little brutal, but honest, and I think that's what the industry needs right now. I don't see anything wrong with working for traditional media and making your way up through that because I believe it gives you insight into what works for them and, of course, what doesn't. But on that same note, there are blogs out there that should get the credit they deserve for being reliable and correct and others that just sour the whole concept. Nevertheless, this is where we are headed and not much can stop it, whether newspapers, j-schools or anyone else wants it to.