And it's gonna happen

Thanks to my old boss Bill Rogers, Trading as WDR for blogging about, and thus reminding me about the comments by Peter Horrocks (see the Guardian). The BBC's new Director of Global News, has spoken of the need for journalists to embrace the possibilities of social networking sites for finding stories worth reporting on more traditional media. Here's what he said to his BBC staff (that's them down on the shop floor behind him) about the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

"If you don't like it, if you think that level of change or that different way of working isn't right for me, then go and do something else, because it's going to happen. You're not going to be able to stop it."

Now this has interested me for all sorts of reasons - for a start, he has a point. I became aware of the story through Twitter, learned more reading an online blog, and discussed it with a colleague who asked me what the email he'd just received was actually about. Secondly, I use such online media a fair old bit already - and have got several stories worth doing in the past six months simply by watching interesting exchanges on both the sites he mentions. Who was among the first to do a piece on the massive Belfast4Haiti gig and spin offs? Well, it was me, actually. And all because I was looking at Twitter as they began to organise it - all whilst my producer that day eyed me with a look which said "Is he skiving or working I wonder?"

So it can work. I've even spent half an hour tonight fiddling about with Buzz. Why? Well not because of Peter's exhortations, no harm to him. It's because I'm curious, intrigued, and want to know. I hope that need to know motivates most of us a bit more than emails from Big Bosses.

Even so, I'll still read the emails from said Big Bosses and be seen to obey. (Is this the same as actually obeying? Discuss)

Why will I toe the line? Well, you see, I'm also motivated by the need to pay the mortgage.