Modern-day MySpace journalism

Earlier today, OBNUG broke a story on Orlando Scandrick being focused heading into the Combine. The story was attained from research done on Scandrick’s MySpace page, to which we did not have full access since we are not technically friends. Nevertheless, our cutthroat reporting skills and attention to detail led us to the breakthrough the NFL Combine had been waiting for: Orlando Scandrick’s mood, complete with emoticon.

All of this got us thinking: is MySpace a credible source for breaking news? Most certified news programs use actual people or first-hand experience to inform their opinions. Should we really be putting our faith in a system that epitomizes the omg generation?

OBNUG votes yes.

We feel that MySpace is a perfectly reasonable place to find out information, especially from today’s generation. Kids are much more likely to post comments or blogs about their life than they are to tell Paul J. Schneider “what’s the haps.” No BSU athlete is running to Mike Prater to tell him how he did on his macroeconomics test, especially not Jeremy Childs. That kind of information is going to hit the interwebs of MySpace long before it makes its way to the middle-aged dad mouths of Idaho media.

Welcome to the future of reporting, where breaking news is sandwiched between the backdrop of Hello Kitty pics and the aural onslaught of Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back.”

Consider OBNUG resourceful. We’ve gleaned copious amounts of knowledge from Ryan Clady’s profile (of particular note, which shows may or may not be the sh*t), and we never cease to be amazed by Marty Tadman’s page (appropriately set to DC Talk’s “In the Light”).

Taste the revolution, David Augusto. You can have your agents and directors and personal contacts. We’ve got this guy:

Of course, one needs to be careful straddling the line of journalistic exposure and personal privacy. We would never share with the world that Ryan Clady, according to his MySpace page, makes less than $30,000 a year. That is his personal business, and we intend to keep it as such.

Likewise, MySpace reporters like ourselves need to know how to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to bogus info. Believe it or not, some people lie on their social networking profiles, so you have to take everything you see with a grain of salt. We at OBNUG realize the potential problems, which is why we have adopted a surefire rule to differentiate between the truth and the lies: Always trust an emoticon. Except the surprised emoticon.

We would welcome the media hordes of Idaho to join us in the evolution of journalism. There is a lot to be learned on the pages of MySpace, even if most of it is written in tweenspeak. If you can’t understand something, go ask your teenage daughter. If you can’t figure out a computer, go cover the Vandals. Enjoy finding out more than you ever thought you’d know about today’s athletes.

As for us, we’re moving on to Facebook.