Introduction

Social media may get credit for things it doesn’t deserve (and criticized for problems it didn’t cause), but few can argue that without social media, there would be no such thing as citizen journalism.

Only a decade ago, the idea of general public news was somewhat absurd. Media was the media, and outside of the opinion page or comments sections, we simply didn’t participate. Blogs dotted the online landscape, but to the general public they were mostly a novelty and often viewed with a bit of mirth. What did these tech savvy upstart young-lings know about the world?

The catch was that blogs were quickly gaining traction not as the outlet for emotional youth, but sounding points for well informed, and in some cases even additional outputs from news organizations themselves.

Today the blog has fallen away as a news source, replaced by micro blogging and main stream social applications. As always, with any change there are benefits and pitfalls. Let’s look at a few…

Accountability

Accountability flows both ways does it not? Big brother is always watching – but in a slightly ironic and perhaps scarier twist, little brother is watching too. Few incidents or mistakes on mainstream media’s part will escape a public eye armed with smart devices.

But little brother’s sudden power comes with a dark side – with no motivation outside fame, and no recourse for damage, the once harmless busybody is now a potential social media fallout in the works for anyone unlucky to be caught in their cross-hairs. This is a stark contrast to mainstream media which must carefully temper itself to avoid litigation and other forms of backlash.

Accuracy

As with accountability, citizen journalism is a double edged sword. Cameras don’t lie, but they DO distort. Little brother’s vigil over mainstream media may force a more mediated approach to journalism, though thus far it seems to have resulted in quantity over quality.

The same cannot be said for the citizen journalism itself. Little brother operates without training or research, resulting in news that is raw, but may not tell the entire story at all. Just as with mainstream media and its own inevitable bias, it is up to the consumer to think critically and disseminate material with an informed and emotionally detached eye.