Don't Just Read the News, NewsiT!

Are you attending the Veteran's March for Ron Paul today in Washington, DC? Do you want to help cover the story for the news? Well, you don't need a job at a network or major newspaper. All you need is your desire to report the facts... and maybe a smart phone. Now you can help NewsiT cover the story, along with a bunch of similarly motivated people from all walks of life.

NewsiT is a new platform built to crowd source news from people in the real world, experiencing or witnessing the events as they happen. All you have to do is visit the assignment section of their web site to see the open news assignments. Once you pick something that interests you, you have your choice of small tasks to do. It could be as simple as uploading a picture or it might be a short interview with a town official.

Each NewsiT "correspondent" earns points & badges each time they contribute to a story.

The magic is that by providing several, short, attainable tasks, it's very easy for people to actually finish their assignments. And as more people add to the story, the more perspective you get on the topic. The folks back at NewsiT are news professionals and put the content through the journalistic process to create an amazingly thorough and compelling story.

Below you'll see a picture of some U.S. Vets marching to the White House as part of the Ron Paul March. If you want to contribute to this or any other NewsiT project, check out their web site. (http://newsit.net/assignments) And you can follow them on Twitter at @younewsit.

I'll be with NewsiT at South By Southwest this year, in Austin, TX. If you are going to be at SXSW, please let me know or look for the NewsiT booth. -- jack@newsit.net