Dallas Fox Station Mocks Social Media

MyFoxDFW.com, also known as Fox 4, in Dallas, Texas recently created a Saturday Night Live type skit on the use of social media when covering the news.

While funny on the surface, it shows some news outlets still don't see the importance of social media, and think it's a joke. In the video they mock Skype, tweeting live from the scene and checking in at geo-based applications like FourSquare, among other things. When asked why the reporter is using Skype, he says because his cameraman got shot.

As a fellow Tweeter who is a journalist pointed out, there was a lot of production that went into creating this skit. If it was for a roast event or charity, I can understand, but if it was done to just do it -- what a waste of time and energy.

Social media is another tool to add to a reporters arsenal of ways to deliver the news and get information our to people, and like it or not, you have to accept it. We all remember what happened to journalism when things started going digital, right? Let's not be behind the times again.

In the interest of full disclosure, I used to work for Fox News Channel, and now work in public relations as a social media coordinator.