Earlier this week, Derick wrote about how Internet users received their news with trends toward "social news" resources like Digg and the new MySpace news. I had planned to write my own take on the subject - since any regular IMM reader might know that I'm a big proponent of traditional news  - but then I came across some breaking news and decided to compare online media sources for information.

While researching information for this post, I came across a Breaking News Bulletin on ABCNews regarding a gunman at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. The bulletin had been posted just seven minutes before I read it. I checked out a couple of other new sources to see what I could find out from the news sites I typically visit, then out of curiosity decided to check out some of these "social news" sites to see how breaking news was covered there.

TRADITIONAL NEWS RESOURCES

Here's what I found as far as more "traditional" news sources went with their developing news of the gunman at the NASA Space Center:

CNN.com

Despite some graphically difficulties, CNN had the story featured on their home page with bright Breaking News graphics plastered all over the screen. CNN was also the first source I found that updated their story to reflect reports from police that the gunman had fired at least one shot. Nice job, CNN.

MSNBC 

I'll be honest … I was a little disappointed in MSNBC's breaking news coverage. The focal point of the homepage remained on a feature story while a relatively small red bulletin bar ran high on the page. It read simply, "Johnson Space Center evacuated amid reports of person with gun." At least they had something, but folks seeking more information right off the bat had nowhere to go … except to other resources.

ABCNews.com

ABCNews is where I first came across the breaking news, and their site had already been updated with photos from Johnson Space Center and a link to watch live coverage. It would not have been possible to have visited the Website without reading about the breaking reports.

Google News

While not a "traditional" news source in the sense that the others mentioned above are, Google News is still a popular main news feed resource for some online users. The top stories on Google News focused on the 2008 presidential race, Yahoo being sued "for giving user data to China" (oh the irony!), and other snippets of everyday news. No sign of my breaking news NASA gunman.

"SOCIAL NEWS" RESOURCES

The results of the fast-paced breaking news details were pretty scattered across some of the more traditional news outlets. Let's see how the "social news" sites fared:

MySpace News

This was my first exposure to MySpace News, and in all fairness, it is a brand new service that MySpace rolled out just a few days ago. Nonetheless, I wasn't impressed to find an article about country music awards and yesterday's news about the conviction of Mary Winkler. As we might expect, there simply hadn't been enough time for any breaking news to make it to the top of MySpace News.

Digg

One of Digg's most popular stories? "Porn is now less and less popular on the Internet." I would never expect a breaking news story like the gunman at the Johnson Space Center to make it onto the front page of Digg very quickly. In fact, I struggle to comprehend the idea that anyone uses Digg and similar services for their news. Digg is not a news site. Using it as such is concerning.

Netscape

Like Digg & MySpace, no stories about the situation in Houston has made it high enough to appear on Netscape's main page. No big surprise here.

Reddit

Again, mostly technology, pop culture, and feature articles relating to the Virginia Tech shootings were featured on Reddit. No reference to any breaking news.

CONCLUSION

Not surprisingly, traditional news outlets had up-to-date news, photos, and videos from the scene as the news in Houston unfolded throughout the afternoon. "Social news" sites spotlighted more soft news and feature articles from secondary sources.

There's a reason I put "social news" in quotes everytime I mention it. It's because these sites are not news sites. They are information portals, and are probably fantastic for obtaining current information related to every topic under the sun. But they aren't news sites, and they shouldn't be used as news sites.

I've yet to see a compelling argument to convince me that Digg, MySpace, and similar sites will ever be able to hold a candle to organizations that were designed specifically as news media organizations. Let media companies do what they do best - deliver the news - and let social sites do what they do best - allow people to communicate with & connect to each other.