Many equate the invention of the Internet to the dawn of communication itself, and while this is largely inaccurate--human beings have been communicating ever since carving petroglyphs in the Stone Age--it has greatly enhanced our means of communicating, via digital networks that span the globe.

As applied to news making, the Internet, and more specifically accompanying social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, have enabled journalists to circumvent traditional barriers of communication to share what's happening in blocked off and censored environments. This is currently going on in Egypt with the help of satellite phones, reports Mashable.

Beyond the debate of whether social media is inspiring a social revolution (something aptly discounted in a recent article by Malcom Gladwell for The New Yorker), the heart of the matter for the news industry is this: advanced communication technologies that are linked to the Internet have created a gateway for public access to international news through journalists reporting on real-time events from across state borders and often embedded in communities of interest. This is what is happening in Egypt right now despite Mubarak's attempts to block access.

Mashable states that while "demonstrations are continuing despite the government's attempts to block communications channels, including the Internet, SMS, TV broadcast by journalists, and mobile networks ... the attempt to block communication has done little to stifle reports coming out of the country. Though much of the citizenry isn't able to broadcast themselves [nor are they using the Internet to organize their demonstrations] their stories are being told and amplified by reporters."

"What's interesting is that the information flowing out is a hybrid of the 'old school' reliance on reports from journalists on location and 'new school' amplification through the social web." Case in point: "Journalists on location have been updating their Twitter accounts with 140-character stories. Ben Wedeman of CNN has been posting noteworthy updates. Sometimes they are quotes from sources he's interviewing and other times he is simply commenting on his observations."

While "Twitter use by journalists for reporting isn't anything new," Mashable explains, "what's notable is that it has evolved and matured since the Iran elections, with more journalists using the tool for real-time updates. Also, several news organizations like NPR, CNN, The New York Times, Al-Jazeera English and others have curated Twitter lists of journalists and citizens tweeting from Egypt."

The result of this more "evolved and matured" use of social media, as further reported on by Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, can be seen in what has become "a kind of running narrative--liveblog meets tweetstream meets reporter's notebook," as exemplified by Nicholas Kristof, a journalist for The New York Times, who not only uses Twitter for short updates, but also Facebook for "observations about something so many people in the world want to know about right now: the situation--the real situation--on the ground in Egypt."

Readers in kind have responded. "The columnist's pithy updates have occasioned several hundreds of comments from Facebook users--575 so far for Kristof's announcement of his trip, 169 for his arrival update, and 261, combined, for the next two," reports the Lab. "Many of them are simple, kind expressions of gratitude and caution ... but many of them are also astute observations about, among other things, the political future of Hosni Mubarak, the validity of comparing Cairo's unrest to Tiananmen's, and the role that the media both within Egypt and outside of it are playing as the situation escalates."

The Lab notes two important points of progress that differentiate reporters' usage of social media in Egypt from similar social uprisings. First is the public commentary, and by virtue the level of interest, that it is inspiring. "It's often said that Facebook makes for a much better commenting platform than news outlets' websites do ... NPR's social media guru, Andy Carvin, noted something to that effect last week ... and Kristof's page certainly suggests that. It's partly that Facebook is, implicitly, a more personal, and personalized, platform for news consumption than, say, The New York Times' website; it's partly that Kristof's page is meant as, essentially, a fan page; it's partly that Facebook, with its Like-buttons-but-not-Dislike-buttons, in general creates a positive environment that, likewise, encourages positivity."

The second point is the narrative. "It's fascinating to observe how the running nature of Kristof's reports changes the value proposition of the story he's telling," adds the Lab. "In his Facebook reporting, time is an implicit, and important, component of his narrative. Kristof, in being in Egypt right now, is in danger; a new update offers not merely a new piece of information about Egypt, but also the reassurance that he's okay. Compare that tension to his newspaper columns, which are--even online--generally static productions that step out of time. In some sense, in fact, they try to overcome time: They challenge the vagaries of the news cycle by highlighting stories that don't have explicit news pegs. Kristof's Facebook reports, on the other hand--like his Twitter feed fleshed out--treat 'the present moment' not only as their subject, but as their point: ... No varnish--and very little artistry. And that makes them particularly compelling."

The Lab makes the point that Kristof is not the first journalist to use Facebook for reporting. "The Wall Street Journal experimented, to great success, with direct-to-Facebook narratives after last year's earthquake in Haiti--and The Washington Post has done amazing work using Facebook updates as raw material for more traditionally constructed narratives. And there are many more where that came from." But Kristoff is not just on Facebook. He's active on Twitter. And he is a prolific print writer.

Ostensibly, Kristof and others like him will be using "all of those platforms, and possibly more, to report on Egypt. In that, his Egypt coverage offers--in addition, of course, to valuable reporting--a kind of case study on how different platforms can be leveraged to tell a story. In real time, and beyond."

Tweeting, phone calls, video and blogging are also popular means for communicating from a blocked off and censored environment such Egypt. According to Mashable, "After having their Cairo bureau closed and press credentials revoked by Egyptian authorities, Al-Jazeera journalists continued to tweet and call in anonymously to report on the protests to the news organization's live stream. Al-Jazeera English and other news organizations like Russia Today utilized YouTube to post updated video reports on the demonstrations."

Also "journalists on the ground in Egypt and web producers of news organizations live blogged updates to their websites. The Washington Post's live blog of the Egypt protests often curated information being posted across the social web, such as tweets and videos from journalists on location. Katharine Zaleski, executive producer and head of digital news products at The Post, said the social media team has been updating the blog with all relevant updates coming from Twitter, Facebook and other platforms since the protests began." Other notable live blogs include The New York Times, CNN, Reuters, Al-Jazeera, Guardian, BBC, and The Huffington Post.

Mashable also reports that Tumblr "has created an Egypt page that is being curated and contributed to by journalists and news organizations like The Atlantic. Playing to the strengths of Tumblr, the page includes an array of short updates, videos and photos from Cairo, while crediting original sources ... The page enables you to sort based on curated, popular and real-time posts that include the #Egypt tag."

Ever on the cutting edge of media trends and creative approaches, "Al-Jazeera has been posting audio reports from its journalists to Audioboo," writes Mashable, "which makes it easy to record shareable audio recordings on-the-go from your mobile device and contextualizes that recording with the location, available photos and other information."

Obviously Nieman Journalism Lab and other reports are right--Egypt will make an interesting case study for examining "how different platforms can be leveraged to tell a story." In the mean time, er, in the real time, we'll keep watching for new ways to carve messages on walls.

Sources: Mashable, Nieman Journalism Lab, The New Yorker, CNN