by Audrey Hebson

Created on: May 06, 2009

Are you interested in taking an active part in democracy? Do you want your voice to be heard on social and political issues? If so, then you just might have a bright future as a citizen journalist. Citizen journalists are members of the general public who analyze and report on current events. This provides the potential for a much more well-rounded and accurate knowledge base for individuals to draw upon, and is a great opportunity for any individual to get involved in current issues.

So the idea of citizen journalism piques your interest. But how do you get started? First of all, let's take a look at different components of citizen journalism. J.D. Lasica, in her article What is Participatory Journalism? outlines the main types:

1. Audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories, personal blogs, photos or video footage captured from personal mobile cameras, or local news written by residents of a community)
2. Independent news and information Websites (Consumer Reports, the Drudge Report)
3. Full-fledged participatory news sites (NowPublic, OhmyNews, GroundReport)
4. Collaborative and contributory media sites (Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Newsvine)
5. Other kinds of "thin media." (mailing lists, email newsletters)
6. Personal broadcasting sites (video broadcast sites such as KenRadio).

These are just a few opportunities to promote your opinion and information-gathering so the general public can access it.

When producing articles online, it is very important to gain exposure. Here are some tips to help you gain recognition as an amateur reporter.

First, make sure your article titles are clear and eye-catching. Web-surfers don't take the time to study every single headline that pops up in their browser, so if yours is very concise, it will be more likely to be viewed than a wordy title. Also, don't be afraid to be a little provocative. If your title catches a viewer by surprise, it will probably create a lot of traffic. Take a chance, be edgy.

Along with writing a good title, make sure that your lede is also interesting. Discover what makes your story or your perspective unique, and sell that in the first paragraph of your piece. If viewers find your first few sentences dull and boring, they will be less likely to read the rest of your article, or to come back for more. Keep the momentum going throughout your article.

Once you're written a piece, don't be afraid to promote it. It can often be helpful to post links to your good content on other, more popular sites. This way, you can funnel traffic to your site from other sites.

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