I tweet, therefore, I am!
 
Okay, I don't really tweet.  I tried to tweet but it just doesn't seem like a way I would prefer to communicate.
 
Mind you, I don't want to be left behind in the online evolution, so I took the steps to set up my Twitter account and suddenly I had online followers, people I never knew existed. And who are all these followers and how did they find me?  There are some things that I would rather not know, but I found it curious.
 
I'm still a skeptic when it comes to the virtual world and I wonder whether all these online communications tools are just a passing phase.  A friend recently sent me a report from a Gallup poll that asked panelists to name the media sources they rely on most for their local news and information. I found the results reassuring.  Local television stations (43%) garner the largest percentage of responses, followed by the print version of their local daily newspaper (26%) and their local radio stations (12%). Less than 1 in 10 panelists consider local newspaper Web sites (6%), local weekly print newspapers (6%), other Web sites (3%), and other media sources (2%) to be their main location for local news.
 
This got me thinking about the value of tweets and blogs and the concepts of citizen journalists who are pumping out information and opinion at lightning speed.  Citizen journalists?  Recently, Denis Finley, the editor of Virginian-Pilot, posed an intriguing question, "would you go to a citizen doctor for surgery?"  With all the appeal in the digital world, there is one element that I think has yet to come to the forefront-credibility.  Just as you would like to see a doctor's certifications, wouldn't you want the same level of qualifications from the people who keep you informed?  And I'm not alone; many of my good friends in the Fourth Estate also seem concerned.  And it's for good reason when you see the numbers of objective and credible journalists who are weighing their career choices.
 
Much of the media evolution is driven by appeal.  It reminds me of the movie Field of Dreams - "if you build it and he will come."  The creators of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube certainly knew what they were doing and they've been incredibly successful.  Media is like anything else; people will seek out and sample what appeals to them, find what fits best and go with it.  And I must admit that I am among them.
 
Journalists and Public Relations professionals have always been strange bedfellows, but there are few things that unite like a common adversary.  Okay, maybe adversary is a bit strong but in a world where we are all competing to be recognized and create relationships with the people we rely on, the virtual world takes us somewhere we've never been before. 
 
Can a person exist without a Facebook and Twitter account?  I suppose so, but the virtual world is far too influential to be ignored.  Excuse me while I come up with 140 characters to share with my followers.  I tweet, therefore I am.