Deep Jive Interests

There’s an interesting debate over at Fred Wilson’s blog about whether Twittering, or blogging, represents journalism. My take on it is that they *both* do.

One definition of Journalism is the “gathering, writing, and reporting of news.” Under this broad definition, it seems like both Twitter and Blogging represent different kinds of journalism. Two points on a spectrum of understanding.

“What?” you might say. “Isn’t Twittering reserved for naval gazing mutterings of individuals who ‘report’ nothing more than mundane banalities of their lives?” That might be true. On the other hand, that kind of value statement judges the medium based on content of what’s being said, not the medium itself.

After all, haven’t the early criticisms of blogs been in the same vein?

While some / most individuals Twitter about things that you or I don’t care to know about, Twitter, as an ambient braodcasting mechanism which transcends online space, can be used to disseminate information quickly, effortlessly, and in real time, in a way that blogging cannot.

Granted, because its limited to 140 characters, the messages have to be concise.

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t use it for reporting. In fact, because of its 140 character restriction, one could argue that it is, in fact, perfect for communicating stories that have immediate impact, forcing you to get to the heart of the issue.

Case in point.

Did you know how I learned about Photobucket being purchased by MySpace?

Twitter.

Granted, the message was something like “OMG, Myspace bought out Photobucket; Rupert pwns all!”

Is that Journalism? I think its a *form* of journalism.

Twittering ought to be no more castigated for its triviality than blogging because people cannot make the distinction between the message and the medium.

Twittering (and other forms of ambient broadcasting) are not the place or forum for extended and well thought out ideas, assertions, and in depth reporting, that’s true. But, on the other hand, its a great mechanism for reporting headlines — things that are happening in the moment, and since you can do it with text messaging you don’t even need to be at a keyboard to make it happen.

In that respect, perhaps its *more* like reporting than blogging ever could be. For real event that are happening in “real” life, citizen journalists could be twittering away about events that are happening in real time, perhaps even as they’re happening.

It hasn’t happened yet — but if Twitter continues to grow, one day when there’s something newsworthy, someone will. And I suspect Twittering will be one of the tools *of* a citizen reporter, all available by cell phone, which so far has includes taking video and photos.

What twittering does, however, is that it provides the ability to provide description and editorial — even if you only have 140 characters at a time.