Link: First shout-out

Maegan Carberry calls for leaders who will recognize the value of user-created content in her second Editor & Publisher blog on "new journalism."

Visit "Young Journos and The Social Contract 2.0" to read the Editor & Publisher article.

Carberry references TrueMilitaryWivesConfessions.com as an example of a user-created and user-centered Web site that provides the sort of information and community only a newspaper or women's group might have been able to a few years ago.




"Women who use the site are submitting their own material, speaking in an authentic and comfortable tone, building supportive relationships with one another and using a Digg-like model to prioritize their most compelling content" Carberry writes.

Specialized Web sites like this can provide newspapers with story ideas and interdependence through co-operation. Newspapers can work with these outlets for content and specialized Web sites can generate traffic by working with media companies. Reporters can use TrueMilitaryWivesConfessions.com to find sources and mold a story proposal by paying attention to the discussions. The newsroom work can work with the Web site to provide information for graphics and supplementary text boxes. Slideshows can be created by asking the users to submit photos.

Reporters spend so much time looking for the human angle of larger stories. The more specialized communities and specialized Web sites develop on the Net, the easiest it is for journalists to find these sources.

Side note: Thanks to Maegan for using a quote I submitted by e-mail. It's cool to have the first reference to my blog.