I've talked about the power of consumer drive and traffic/usage trends on the Internet.  As much as the portals, search engines, and news sites influenced and acted as the major drivers of traffic in the not so distant past, the connections and social aspects of today's Internet are taking over the role.

 

Case in point:  yesterday's horrific shootings in Virginia.

 

A number of people have looked at yesterday's developments from the perspective of an average Internet user trying to find information.  And while the major news outlets were indeed covering the story, where was most of the real, first-hand information coming from?

 

CNN?  NBC?  Digg?  Other social news sites?

 

Nope.  Facebook, other social websites, and blogs.  Now to be fair, Li Evans at Search Marketing Gurus was able to find the story on the front page of Newsvine by 1 pm.  But Newsvine was apparently alone in its ability to get the story floated to the top in a timely manner.  I agree with Marketing Pilgrim's assertion that worldly, breaking news is better consumed at traditional news sites and not social news.  You shouldn't have to wait for other people to read a story before you can find it quickly.

 

SearchViews has published the information that really caught my eye this morning.  The real first-hand news coverage wasn't going on at Digg or CBS or CNN.  It was going on at Flickr, LiveJournal, Facebook,  and other blogs and social networks.  In fact, SearchViews has linked to several comments left by reporters with various news agencies on the blogs and profiles covering the news asking for interviews or more information.

 

So what does all of this tell us?

 

Basically… the more interconnected, public, and easily findable we become, the more influence we begin to exert over the information available.  If you wanted up-to-date information yesterday, you could go straight to the source and bypass much of the mainstream news.  Before you flame me, let me stress that I'm suggesting abandoning CNN, Fox News, etc.  Those are still excellent sources of information.

 

What I am saying is that the people making the news are more likely to be directly putting that news out there today than they were a decade ago.  Social networks, blogs, and everything in between have made it possible to get first-hand information on breaking events at a much more rapid pace than ever before.

 

Now, more than ever, it's hard to deny the power and influence of the socially-connected masses.