Response to “Journalism Next” Chapter 4

Small is the New Big: Microblogging

Blogging is one of the many ways in which the aspiring journalist can publish his or her work. It is also one of the ways at which professional journalists can better cover their beats and post their opinions on their lives or various topics.

With the new social websites like Twitter.com and Facebook becoming an increasingly prominent source of information, a new type of blogging has come out of the wood work, microblogging.

Briggs, in chapter four of “Journalism Next”, defines microblogging as a “service [that] allows users to publish brief text messages, usually no more than 140 characters, with links to other Web sites, photos or videos.”

Though these sites offer a limited amount of text to be typed out, they still offer great ways to distribute quick bursts of information.

With Connect2Mason.com, an online only, student news publication, we utilize all sorts of microblogging to distribute news stories. Other times, we post photos or videos with text that offers interactivity with the user. These are the best “backdoor” entrances to our site and the easiest ways our readers have to connect with our stories.