In chapter 2 of Journalism 2.0 there is a focus on how the internet has become more of a community of information sharing rather than one person giving information to others with no interactivity. This shift is especially important to acknowledge when considering the impact it has on modern journalism.
Instead of a company creating a website and its content for users to view and browse, companies are now creating platforms for users to create the content and to interact with other users. Google is the first example of a search engine evolving with the Internet age instead of waiting and remaining two steps behind. It has generated revenue by creating AdSense, a way for advertisers to buy, and users to sell, ad space on web pages sponsored by Google.
Other sites have become pseudo-news providers. They are “pseudo” because pages like Digg have all the most popular news of the day available with the click of a mouse, without actually creating its own news content.
It is important for journalists to be aware of these new networking sites and the features they provide. In order to draw in readers, journalists must be aware of all these new element of the digital age and use everything to their advantage.
Ways that journalists and news organizations can capitalize of these developments is to link to sites like YouTube that may have relevant material or to use tags so searches will turn up articles when an internet user searches a certain term on a search engine.
One other way the chapter gives as an example for modern journalists to keep in touch with their audience, and arguably the most important way, is to get and respond to feedback provided by the audience.
Overall, the general and very important message of “Web 2.0” is, as the author of Journalism 2.0 says, “It is important to recognize the change in your audience. They want to participate, so help them.”