If you're still talking about "new media," please stop. There's no such thing any more. It's just media now. Citizen journalists and consumer generated content have never been more relevant than what we have seen in the past two days. The horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech tested the incredible potential - and limits - of the technology that is forever changing the way we communicate with one another, whether across the hall or around the world.
As you know by now, the most compelling video of the police on campus trying to find the gunman came from a camera phone owned by a student (who, btw, was paid by CNN for exclusive footage). So far, it has generated over 2 million views. Hundreds of people have sent what CNN calls i-reports, providing a citizen's eye view of the events as they unfold. Suddenly, the number of "reporters" covering the story has completely changed the way we are able see and absorb the story. We don't have to wait for over-produced, high-priced media personalities to reserve satellite time and set up temporary sets to tell us what they think is going on.
Meanwhile, students learned from other students who was injured, killed and missing by reading Facebook, blogs, MySpace, Wikipedia, and of course through IM's and text messages. Today, there are hundreds of Facebook pages and forums dedicated to mourning the students. In fact, one has drawn more than 28,000 members who share memories, photos, poems and questions. Global online communities are coming together in a matter of hours. The mainstream media can't keep up. Nor, by the way, can the technology. This horrible event will serve as a blueprint for communications companies to develop even more robust interactive programming.
Over the next several weeks we can expect to see tremendous online coverage of this story as an official investigation gets underway. Every hour new information is revealed as people share their experiences and insight. We're watching history in the making. News will never be covered the same way again.
Consider this, too: this week marked another new milestone: a majority of teens (55%) now have online profiles. Watch that continue to grow quickly, especially with the corresponding growth in online coverage of major news.
So, let's drop talk of new media. It's so 12 hours ago.
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