Reading the article about "the great rebel journalist" I.F. Stone took me back to the days when our only social networking tools were snail mail, rotary telephones and the printed word. How did we survive?
My kids, 9 and 11, couldn't imagine life without computers, cell phones, large screen televisions, Bluetooth and satellite dishes. They both have AOL accounts, and the oldest has her own Facebook page. Whether I like it or not, social networking is a part of their young lives.
Yes, I could shield them from being "connected," but that's not realistic. They need to be taught responsibility with the media tools available to them. They are very much aware about stranger danger, cyberbullying, identity theft and spam on the Internet. We, as parents, need to teach our youth these issues now, because that's our job as caregivers.
I have that same philosophy for my collegiate photojournalism students. They, too, need to be aware of the dangers of social media, like anonymous sources, public relations flacks masquerading as journalists and wrong information, not to mention the many ethical and legal concerns.
But social networking can be positive, as well. In the NPR segment, The Point of Twitter, Bob Garfield stated that "people simply like to share, not only what they think is cool that you should check out but the reality of what they're doing or seeing or just thinking right this second."
It's through social sites like Wordpress, Twitter and Facebook that people connect. It's a "primal human need for keeping in touch, even virtual touch, with other humans," Garfield said.
Because of this need to be connected, journalists must adapt to the social tools of the day in order to verify and synthesis the information they receive and distribute on the Internet.
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