Citizen Journalism- Helium Submission Process

I submitted an article to the citizen journalism Web site, Helium.com.

I had a hard time trying to register for citizen journalism sites. Helium.com is a professional website, which has many channels (areas of interest) to choose from. There is an abundance of information to sort through because you can submit stories, publish their stories to your own news source, and non-profits can partner with them to promote their own causes. You can also create creative writing pieces for their Web site.

I tried to sign up for University Chic instead, because my article pertains to college students becoming entrepreneurs and creating their own Web sites to start their businesses. However, their site lacked the correct formatting for me to submit an article when I tried to access the submit portion. A challenge with citizen journalism sites is that professionals or a team of people does not necessarily run them. The lack of professionalism can cause the sites’ downfall.

I ended up joining Helium, which allow users to post on a wide array of channels from Health to Politics. The Web site also promotes writing contests. The current contests are Reality TV, Gadgets, Hunting, Cycling, Patios, and Rock Climbing. Since none of these topics are news worthy, so I decided to post on a channel – I chose the business channel, advertising and marketing, and wrote under the title "Reasons to use social media for your company."

A majority of the posts I read did not cite outside research or support their claims with quotes from interviews. Helium seems like a large database filled with opinion pieces from citizens with all sorts of interest. The site says, “At Helium, we believe that everyone can contribute what they know to share with millions of readers around the globe.” Therefore, the site allows citizen journalists to write on topics, that they are knowledgeable about, but they do not have to do research in order to share their knowledge.

I decided to write on something I am knowledgeable about: Badgers and Advertising. The piece I submitted is titled, “Successful College Entrepreneurs Utilize Social Media.” It outlines college student-started, online businesses. It explains how easy it is for students to start a business and promote it using social media. It was exciting to write an article on something I am passionate about.

The advantages of Helium are that citizens can write about things they have knowledge about, that other people might not. You get to share knowledge and gain knowledge. However the argument we discussed in class about “Is the Internet making us smarter?” -applies here. For instance, there is a standard that Helium has for it’s writing, but one of the top stories was Jessica Simpson Quotes and there is an opinion piece on The Bachelor. The writing on Helium appears opinion based, so people should read the writings skeptically and not take any of the pieces as facts without referencing the statements elsewhere.

Helium also offers the chance to win Citizen Journalism Awards and to write about paid topics. These incentives keep writers active and interested. It promotes quality writing in order to gain recognition or cash.

Like any Web site, I think I need to spend an extensive amount of time on it to fully know every detail about Helium. Since this is my first experience with a citizen Journalism web site, I am still learning the ropes.

The article was posted instantly, which is exciting and scary at the same time because I’m published- but there is no moderator for any content. Here is my article!!

http://www.helium.com/items/1774905-college-students-and-social-media-marketing