Media Calls Out to 'Citizen Journalists'

Mac Slocum for E-Media Tidbits picks up on requests made online by CNN and MSNBC for Katrina hurricane witness photos, videos, and stories, and how they are sure to appear prominently in search engines.

"Both sites offer a nice assortment of material, but what I found particularly interesting is the text used in each site's title bar (located at the very top of the browser):

CNN: "CNN.com Citizen Journalists: Send your pictures, video, stories"

MSNBC: "CJ Experience: Hurricane Katrina - Citizen Journalist - MSNBC.com"

Adding "Citizen Journalists/Citizen Journalist" to the title bar has significant search-engine ramifications. The title area, while often overlooked by Web users, is used by most major search services to catalog and serve up information. Search-engine experts stress the importance of this area for associating specific search phrases (known as "keywords") with specific webpages.

Planting a buzz-worthy phrase like "citizen journalist" in the title area is probably not a coincidence.

Picture above left from citizen reporter fFrom Rodney Lewis, McComb, Miss., posted on MSNBC

emily | 8:12 AM | Citizens as Camera Phone Reporters |
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