The 10 Citizen Journalism Resources Real Estate Bloggers Should Be Using
Citizen Journalism, just like social networking, has always been 
around. Now instead of relying solely on Word of Mouth storytelling we are able to record ideas, thoughts, research and sometimes unfortunately speculation, through a photo lens, a microphone, a blog publishing platform, or an Internet radio show.
It's the increasing use of Citizen Journalism while traditional media is losing ground that has caused the rumbles to ROAR. What does citizen journalism have to do with real estate? If you fancy yourself a blogger and you are writing about past/current client transactions, real estate ordinances or bills passed that effect real estate, educational pieces, or community breaking news, than you are a citizen journalist.
Citizen Journalism "is the act of non-professionals "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis- Source: Wikipedia.org.
Citizen Journalists-Bloggers, Podcasters, and Vloggers- have an impact on their audience. They can effect a person's purchasing decisions or actions with the news they report. As I learned from BlogWorld's Citizen Journalism Workshop last September, Citizen Journalism isn't going away. The key is to apply the pillars of Accuracy, Thoroughness, Fairness, Transparency, and Independence. The same pillars that real estate professionals wish were used when traditional journalists report on the Real Estate Market they must learn to employ themselves.
To help real estate professionals in that effort I have compiled,
The 10 Citizen Journalism Resources Real Estate Bloggers Should Be Using
Nonforprofit political fact checking site. An essential tool for bloggers.
Review this training module that asks questions like are you protecting people's privacy rights? Where are you retrieving your information? Are you committing defamation of character- libel? It also gives you resources to check on these sources. I purchased International Libel Privacy Handbook a few months ago when I realized there may be times when I write a post that pushes the envelope.
Helps Journalists and Citizens report news responsibly. There are a myriad of resources on this website, some of which led to me the resources in this list. The site has updated news on Citizen Journalism, a Google Map on Citizen Journalist sites, and many training modules.
5. The Citizen Journalist's Guide to Public Resources-
How to get access to public records and meetings and what to do if you are denied access.
History, Definition, Explanation of Citizen Journalism. Do you remember the story of Thomas Paine-
Common Sense, The Crisis, The Rights of Man, and
Age of Reason, Thomas Paine died a man disliked because of his views on religion, but his other works were well regarded. Thomas Paine was an original Citizen Journalist.
How Twitter is used for breaking news and how you can use Twitter to find news to write about. We have learned a few such as asking questions and polling. This articles lends real life journalistic examples that will inspire an aha moment. The second part of this article,
Twitter Basics and the third part of this article, Twitter
Do's and
Don'ts are an easy read and worth the time.
9. Covering Communities
A good resource site for journalists and citizen journalists. I especially like the library and training sections that provide reference checklists and how to's for building your community.
Community building, community building, community building EQUALS PROFITABILITY. Bookmark this site and use it.
NewsU.org
A free and simple registration form allows you to sign up for online classes like,
- The Be A Reporter Game Practice the basics of newsgathering -- asking questions, verifying information -- while racing against a deadline.
- Journalism and Trauma Learn how to compassionately interview victims and how covering traumatic events affects you. A fitting training module for the real estate industry in light of the number of foreclosures and short sale properties.
- Local Readers and the Newsroom: The Online Credibility Gap: A Webinar Replay Hear where readers and journalists agree -- and disagree -- about news site credibility and join the discussion about key findings in this landmark study.
Can you research these citizen journalism resources? How can you fit the research into your daily and weekly routine? If you're going to inform and educate the public you need to make sure you inform and educate yourself.
- Put aside a slotted chunk of time to give yourself some homework each night.
If you have an assistant, have your assistant pull the pertinent reading for you to do every day.
Dedicate yourself to learning
Become a valuable citizen journalist covering the real estate beat and become a community builder in the process. Strive to be a sought after leaderand expert in your field.
Remember that means you will need to get off your computer and out in your community on a regular basis, talk to people, answer questions, ask questions, learn about the needs of your community.
Some days you might be smelling the roses of a sweet story, other days you might be trying to scrape the stench of a sad situation off the bottom of your shoes.
At the end of the day remember the words you choose can be a lesson, a help, or a comfort to your readers old and new.
Don't hold your breath waiting for the entire media industry to change when you have your feet to the street everyday and you are the real estate industry expert.
The advantage is yours if you use the 10 citizen journalism resources real estate bloggers should be using.
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Curious - did the workshop address the issue of report privilege relating to the compelled divulging of sources?