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Why blogs are an open door

Examining how journalists can benefit from blogs on the web, former editor Fletcher writes: "Blogs...tend to be open to the world. So do many areas of the social networking sites. When you create an entry about yourself on MySpace, anyone who visits the site can find you, unless you change the default position in order to make your site private. When you post a piece on Facebook, which has a huge following among university students around the world, it is not open to anyone, but there is not much point in being on it unless you make it open to groups of contemporaries – and once it is open to those groups, it is pretty much open full stop." And he continues: A walk around the web reveals furious commentary from those who believe the press have no right to seek information in this fashion – and from others who think it would be remarkable if they did not. L J Ulrich, a columnist on The Daily Athenaeum, the newspaper of West Virginia University, writes: ‘Like it or not, Facebook is a perfect starting point for investigations. The system is literally a treasure trove of information: names, addresses, cell phone numbers, political affiliations, interests, hobbies, link-charted contact networks and countless photographs. This type of information makes journalists drool – not just because it is readily available and easy to find, but it has been voluntarily broadcast into cyberspace. Anything found on Facebook is well within the public domain. If it's posted, nobody can cry about how it's used’."

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