Social media: reporting the news in ways traditional outlets can't

We all know that athletes, celebrities and the 18-32 demographic are huge proponents of social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter & Myspace. These websites are so prevalent in our lives today, that it is almost hard to imagine what life was like before the invention of the "tweet."

There's nothing like reconnecting with your kindergarten crush 18 years later on Facebook to find out she's married with 3 kids at the age of 24, or "tweeting" about the wonderful burger and shake you had for lunch.  

Often times, social media outlets serve a greater purpose and have proven to be valuable resources during breaking news events, providing real-time, raw eyewitness accounts that traditional media outlets sometimes cannot provide. CNN is notorious for its user-generated content called "i-reports." CNN host Rick Sanchez calls his daily show "a national conversation," and he reads and responds to viewers comments through various social media outlets and uses those responses as talking points for his show.

In Iran, protests and violence have filled the streets in the aftermath of the that country's disputed presidential elections. Iranians have been organizing protests and sending photos and video to other media agencies around the world through Facebook & Twitter despite attempts to block such communication by the Iranian government. Cell phone service & text messages have already been severely crippled, but the effectiveness of the Iranian messages and images via Facebook and Twitter cannot be overstated.

The messages have been so effective, that the U.S. government sent a message to Twitter yesterday, asking them to delay their scheduled site maintenance because it would have occurred during a key time in Iran when people were actively "tweeting," posting videos and links. Twitter agreed and delayed the maintenance. 

Youtube has also been instrumental for Iranians, and users like "iranbefree.com" regularly post videos of the chaos surrounding the protests.

Videos like this one:

The Iranian government has forbidden all journalists from reporting on the protests without permission, severely crippling their effectiveness. The abundance of reporting by Iranians has filled this void, and the methods through which they are sending out their messages is changing foreign diplomacy and news gathering as we speak.

There is an ongoing debate about the effectiveness and necessity of using social media outlets to report and gather news. A great majority of tweets, links, and status updates are nonsensical, irrelevant posts, but that should not devalue the importance of these outlets during breaking news events. We've seen how these outlets, when used for meaningful purposes can provide access and insights that bonafide journalists are prohibited from capturing.

If you devalue the importance of social media then think about this... What if detainees at Abu Gharib in Iraq and Guantanamo could tweet, send facebook updates, and post videos about their time in prison? What do you think the response would have been from the U.S. and other nations around the world?? Something to think about...

Speaking of Rick Sanchez, here is a segment from one of his shows debating the effectiveness/necessity of social media in the news gathering process: