Bangladesh Boat Diary: Social Networking used in Media

According to BBC:

BBC World Service is traveling along the rivers of Bangladesh as part of a major project to track and debate climate change.

Officially entitled Nodi Pothe Bangladesh - Bangladesh By The River - this is one of the most ambitious projects the BBC World Service has undertaken.

Over the course of the month, staff from 17 different World Service language services will visit the MV Aboshor, and each Friday and Saturday a total of 48 people will cram onto the small boat.

The launch began with a press conference on board the boat. "Why are you coming and scaremongering?" a journalist asked. "Why do you want to present Bangladesh in a negative light?"

Does he have a point? Perhaps in the next four weeks you can judge for yourself.

Here is the website for this project. The interesting thing is that you can follow the project via Twitter, a growing social networking site that allows updating your status via sms (mobile) and web (IM) and you can also informed about your peers status via web (IM) or sms to your mobile. Check the 'Bangladesh Boat' updates via twitter.

Its interesting to see how the media uses these social networking sites. Earlier Greenpeace's 'Project Thin Ice" used Google Earth Technology to report the progress of the expedition to north pole. But twitter is appropriate in Bangladesh's context where there is a great deal of progress in telecommunication which has a sound network even in the remote areas of the country and they offer even fast internet connection (Edge & GPRS) via mobile. Check Mezba's post for details on this pehonomenon.

(Graphics credit BBC)

Update: Nokia and Reuters announced a collaboration to bring a new mobile journalism application that will enable reporters to file and publish articles, audio, photo and video content directly from handheld devices.