Social Networking Sites - New Way of Delivering the News??

I’m not big on gaming at all, and never have been, (except like Mario Kart and Tetris – which is totally from YEARS ago!) so the topics discussed in class are really new and interesting for me. I do feel out of the loop sometimes, but the discussions definitely do help clarify a lot and I do get a better understanding of online gaming. I may not be big on games, but of course like everyone else in the world today, I’m always on Facebook and Myspace. (I hate to admit it, but it is so true!) It’ really interesting how it is not only used for “social networking” purposes, but these sites have expanded into things like sharing news and starting discussions about things that are going on in the world. I personally think it is a great way to get information out there. To tie this into our class discussion from last week, our modern technology has greatly evolved and it isn’t like the telegraph anymore - which would take days to deliver - but with our high speed internet today, we can deliver and share information instantly.  

So, I was online reading the news and found this article on social networking sites and how it has been an effective way to share breaking news. 

For example, there was a guy who took a picture of the recent emergency plane landing in the Hudson River on his iPhone and uploaded it onto his Twitter account. He was on a ferry and got took the picture to share with his “friends” because he thought it was newsworthy. He got so many views of it after it was loaded on the site, that it even caused the server of TwitPic to crash!

I’m personally not that big on TV so I never really watch the news. I am so dependent on the internet, so having the news online and the news being shared on sites like Facebook is actually really helpful for me, and I’m thinking it is the same way for many other people as well. I think sooner or later, it is not just going to be just TV news, newspaper, radio, magazines and online news, but these sites are going to be sources that people rely on for the news.