The recent upsurge of social media such as Facebook, Twiiter, Blogs, YouTube etc. has led to questions regarding what journalism is and who journalists are.
I think that journalism is the practice of observing, researching, organizing and then presenting news to the masses.   A journalist then, is someone who sees, experiences, or investigates some current news, and then conveys that to other people.  I do not think that you have to have a degree in order to be considered a journalist.  I think that normal, everyday people who blog or face book or tweet responsibly and intelligently about current events are journalists because they are communicating valuable information to the world.  The situation with social media in  northern Africa is a prime example.  I think that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and blogging have been the powerful forces behind the success of the revolutions that have taken place. They provided a way to spread the news of the rebellions, which inspired others in surrounding areas to join in. I think that it was because of new media that the small protesting turned into a large-scale revolution. In addition, new media sources provided the world with information about the rebellion that the government was desperately trying to hide. Without the media, the rest of the world would have had no idea what was happening.  I think that the government would have been able to smother the protesters and regain control. However, because of the media, information about the violence was communicated and spread throughout the world, causing outrage and anger. The government had no choice but to step down and flee once so many people began banding together against them.
I think that sites such as Twitter and Facebook have incredible influence and power because the messages they contain are created by the individual, but are communicated to the masses. Never before has there been a way for normal, average people to express their opinions and emotions, and communicate them so fully and immediately to the rest of the world.  In this way, I think that new social media can be considered journalism, and the people that create them, journalists.