Social journalism

Social journalism is a media model consisting of a hybrid of professional journalism, contributor and reader of content. The format relies on community involvement, audience engagement, social newsgathering and verification, data and analytics, and relationship-building. Social journalism takes place on some open publishing platforms, like Twitter and WordPress.com, but can also involve professional journalists, who created and/or screen the content. CNN's now-defunct iReport was an example of a social journalism collaboration between professionals and citizens; other examples include Forbes.com, , Medium, BuzzFeed, Soapbox and Gawker. The model, which in some instances has generated monthly audiences in the tens of millions, has been discussed as one way for professional journalism to thrive despite a marked decline in the audience for traditional journalism. Social journalism is not just focused on delivering the news, but involves within the community it covers.