Robert Scoble made the same point in his article Scobleizer: What Newspapers can learn form the Tech industry about him being someone that gets his news and information online. According to him
“I say that not as someone who's willfully ignorant but as a news junkie who subscribes to more than 600 feeds in Google Reader, including those from The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, and USA Today. What's killing the newspaper business -- with thousands of jobs lost and even the Washington Post Co.'s reporting its first loss in 37 years -- is its inability to reach people like me.”
He is trying to give an advice to the newspaper business to take a leaf from the technology world and I think he is right. Social networking has been all about connection. And the ultimate connection would be able to reach different people on different platforms. From the old fashioned (newspapers) to the More technology oriented crowd.
However, while reading Eric Schonfeld’s article Citizen “Journalist” Hits Apple with False (Steve Jobs) Heart attack Rumor, I was able to look at the other downside of Citizen Journalism. Someone decided to post a story in CNN’s iReport about Steve Jobs having a heart attack which caused the stocks of Apple to drop by 10%. Questions would asked about how to solve this problem. I would agree with Eric. He says that
“Let’s not let one bad apple ruin the whole experiment, though. Obviously, there are a lot of smart people out there who can contribute to general news gathering. There needs to be a better truth filter on iReport and other sites that allow the anonymous reporting of news. A better reputation system for contributors would help. They should be encouraged to use their real names. And maybe a bigger disclaimer needs to be placed up top saying: “Read At Your Own Risk.”
That would be the best way. Don't you think?
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