Recruitalicious

This just in! Now anyone can post their own news stories on YouTube via YouTube Direct. The idea is to connect citizens and journalists, and is designed as a “new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.”  YouTube posted the announcement on its YouTube Blog a few weeks ago, and, judging from the posts on social media sites like Twitter, the idea seems to be well-received.

I think this is pretty cool. On its blog, YouTube discusses how news is changing with video cameras. Anyone can document what’s happening, as long as some kind of camera is there to capture it. YouTube has positioned itself as a major site where people from all over the world can go to watch news, and now news organizations can use it to connect with citizen reporters and broadcast to a larger audience. Citizen reporters benefit as well, since they can broadcast their footage to their own audience and also gain more exposure if a news organization picks up their stories. According to a Mashable post, ABC News, The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle are already using the application. Read the rest of this entry »