Good blogs can change the world and bring about justice and social change. They can be about anything that people may want to read. As with almost anything else on the Web, information is more valuable than opinion.
“The best blogs look outward, not inward. That is, successful bloggers–those who build and sustain an audience–not only create original content, but also point to other good content on the Web. Linking is part of the formula for a good blog.”
The blog post should be 150-200 words long. It should be written with all of the characteristics of media writing in mind: accuracy, precision, clarity, and efficiency (AP Style). But you should not hesitate to express your point of view about the information you are presenting.
Despite the millions of blogs that have been started, good reporting and writing–concise, coherent, information-rich writing–is still relatively rare among bloggers. The well-written blog, with original information and a good sense of what else is on the Web will gather an audience.
Twitter is a combination of what we might call micro-blogging and social networking. An entry on Twitter can be no longer than 140 characters, including the URL if you are pointing to something on the Web. As a media specialist writing for Twitter, you are trying to inform people who are following you. But remember that as a participant on Twitter, you are part of an ongoing conversation, and you should feel free to react to what others have said as well as to introduce original information to the conversation.
Using the information that you gathered and wrote about in the On The Spot News Story as a starting point, you are to write (1) a Blog post and (2) a Twitter post.