Although many journalists are upset that citizen journalism has taken away from the mass media’s traditional role as gatekeeper, citizen journalism has been proven to be helpful to get stories out in the open that would have otherwise been looked over or misinterpreted. However, the issue of reliable sources still comes into question when discussing how citizen journalism can effectively serve the general public.

Citizen journalists are crucial to news outlets because they are typically the first ones on the ground when breaking news events happen, and should be respected by professional journalists, whether or not they realize that most of the information received from citizen journalists is ultimately useful.

While on social media, whether you realize it or not, you’re contributing to the work done by professional journalists. Just posting about a life occurrence that is unique to your situation could be news to someone else or could go viral and be seen by a bigger audience than intended. Tools such as Twitter’s Periscope and Facebook Live can capture an event in real time and bring light to a situation that would otherwise only be a case of “she said, he said,” like the Facebook Live stream of the aftermath of the shooting of Philando Castile .