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We all know a plane ditched in the Hud­son yes­ter­day. Kudos to the pilot and all those involved in res­cu­ing the passengers.

But old media…you peo­ple will never learn. As reported NUMEROUS times, the first reports and pic­tures from the inci­dent came out via Twit­ter and Twit­Pic. Old media clas­si­fied these are media out­lets. THEY ARE NOT MEDIA OUTLETS. They are com­mu­ni­ca­tion medi­ums, people.

Real peo­ple with real accounts reported this. They used a medium (Twit­ter and Twit­Pic) and, from their media out­let (their own accounts) told the world what was happening.

Why is this dis­tinc­tion impor­tant? Well, it’s sim­ple, really. Old media thinks they are com­pet­ing against Face­book, Twit­ter and social media oth­ers as a group. They are wrong. They have many, many more com­peti­tors. Every sin­gle user is now a media out­let of their own. They have access to thou­sands of peo­ple with the push of a but­ton and yes, they all know how to use it.

Old media, the game has changed. If you want to sur­vive, it’s time you fig­ure out who your com­pe­ti­tion is. It’s all of us.

Props to @chadarizona for help­ing me clar­ify this.

More from tdhurst

• Social Media IS NOT advertising
• Is there a Twit­ter rule book?
• Gang­plank: an idea, not a building
• Every com­mu­nity needs a home
• This is a title

Arkayne recommends

• How To Find a Social Media Expert (Derek Neigh­bors)
• A Good Auto Sound Sys­tem is a Require­ment not a Lux­ury (Arthur)
• A Quick Guide to the Social Media Tool­box (The Pub­lic Rela­tions and Mar­ket­ing Group)