ABSTRACT
In the modern news environment when news breaks readers don't want to wait for journalists to write a 300-word story: they want to follow developments as they happen. Users also increasingly want communal experiences; to interact with journalists and others affected in real time. Live blogging really took off with the rise of micro blogging services such as Twitter, which allowed reporters, witnesses and experts to provide real-time updates on news developments without having to write formal news stories or blog posts. Some news organisations have decided to make their homepage at live blog – or indeed the whole site. Live blogs do incredibly well when it comes to the amount of visitors that they get, and how long they spend on there. Live blogging and mobile reporting have become central to the online output of the majority of news organisations: reporters are expected to be able to report from the scene of major news events using social media and multimedia.
