Never before have we gotten to participate in the news as it unfolds. Before even local news stations can get a crew on location, someone already on the scene is documenting it on their cellular phone camera, or “tweeting” about it on Twitter, or drawing huge attention to it on Facebook, literally as it’s happening. In such an day of “social media”, if you’re just finding out about something which was “tweeted” an hour or so ago, it’s likely it’s already old news.

I had a good close friend, Robert “Uncle Bob” Stewart, who was an American war correspondent during World War II. After the war ended, Bob became a media mogul in the Philippines, starting in the 1950s with a radio station, and shifting to television in the 1960s. He hosted just about the most popular children’s shows ever, Uncle Bob’s Lucky 7 Club, and held on to his empire into the mid-1980s until the political unrest in that country made it impossible for him to continue.

”Uncle” Bob died in 2006 at age 89, but I’ll never forget how fascinated – and in tune – he was with modern technology. He was the consummate storyteller, and could command an audience whenever he chose to regale a gathered group. However, as endearing as Bob was in person, you would not believe how “leading edge” this particular octogenarian was when it came to modern technology.

You could never out-text him on his cellular phone or PDA; instant messenger was the way he communicated from his wireless notebook, and he would tell anyone who would pay attention to him that one day every last person on the planet would quit being news consumers and would instead turn into the producers of news content, themselves.. Bob and I had many long discussions about his vision of the impact the web was having on the gathering and reporting of news, and I never found myself questioning his savvy.

He was a career news gatherer, journalist, broadcaster, and television and radio innovator his entire life, and it was obvious to anyone who cared to notice that Bob had his finger on the pulse of social media and how the internet was forever changing that world. For an older gentleman – rest in peace, Bob – he was as hip as anyone I’ve seen. He was right in many, ways.

Now, more and more people depend on high-speed internet and wireless gadgets for their news. Content provided through the social media through weblogs as well as other social networking approaches including Twitter, Facebook, and Digg, is generally accessible seconds after an event happens, or oftentimes as it’s happening.

The recent documentary, Burma VJ showed the effectiveness of social media when it brought us amazing, and sometimes harrowing, footage that undercover journalists shot throughout the 2007 uprising against the brutal military regime in Rangoon, Burma. It was filmed entirely with hand-held cameras, and the footage was smuggled out of the country where it was promptly uploaded to the Internet for the world to witness.

The next time you’re surfing the web by means of your high speed Cox internet service and discover a truly interesting story, there’s a good chance it comes from a regular person who decided they could produce legitimate, interesting news content just as easily as the other person. If you don’t have Cox, call today. Great cable deals are waiting for you!