Reporters tap into social networks and find gold

Social networking websites have certainly gained prominence in the past several years. Less than a decade ago, social networking sites were practically unheard of. Now, MySpace, Facebook, and their lesser-known competitors play a major role in the lives of over 300 million people. With such a large member base, it is no wonder businesses are scrambling to utilize these websites to generate revenue. However, the true power of these social network websites lies in its ability to log interactions between each of its members. For example, by clicking “View Friends” on somebody’s profile on Facebook, you can see the names of all the people that that person is friends with on Facebook. This has incredibly far reaching implications on the world of journalism. Oftentimes, reporters have a hard time tracking down witnesses of a crime or friends of the victim. In the past, reporters had to go door-to-door to find the information they needed to tell the whole story. Today however, reporters are able to use social networking websites to find contacts quickly and efficiently. This proved to be pivotal in the reporting of the death of a cyclist in Chicago last week.

Held once a year, the Tour Da Chicago is an unofficial street race that takes place in stages scheduled at various points throughout the winter. Cyclists participating in the Tour Da Chicago have to compete not only against other cyclists, but also against the cars on the roads. This obviously has inherent dangers, since traffic laws such as stop signs and traffic lights have to be disregarded in order to outpace one’s competitors. This proved to be fatal for Matthew Manger-Lynch who ran a red stoplight and was killed when an SUV struck him. Initial reports spelled his name wrong, and did not provide much information about the participants of the race at all. The police report was also sparse. However, a reporter working for the Chicago Tribune was able to find and fit pieces to the puzzle by scouring social networking websites for information. Looking through MySpace, the reporter discovered a subculture of cyclists that were into hardcore street cycling, called “alleycats.” One of the cyclists contacted her, and provided her with more contacts. Outfitted with this information, the reporter was able to produce a follow-up report that shed light not only on the circumstances of the accident, but also the underground world of street cycling.

Clearly, the ease with which personal networks are accessed through these social networking websites allows reporters to find crucial information more quickly than ever before. As a result of these social networking websites, distances in networking datasets are decreased, degrees of separation are lessened, and social networks are larger than ever before. The chief implication of the shift towards online social networks however, has to do with Network Exchange Theory. In any network, the person with exclusive information and high “betweenness” has more power than the rest of the people. In a sense, social networking websites eliminates this monopolization of power. For instance, if the reporter mentioned above only has one source, then the source has high power in the network of people connected to the victim. If this source does not talk, then the story goes dead. However, in online social networks, everyone that is friends with the victim is in a position of power, and the chances of obtaining information are much higher.