Giving blogs a liveline

Just as the internet has evolved, so too has blogging. I set up my first blog in 2005, and as was the norm I updated it every now and then and that was about it. That still has its place of course, but liveblogging has injected a whole new life into blogging.

With traditional blogs, you can check in whenever suits. With a liveblog, the temptation's there to furiously hit the refresh button so that you don't miss a beat.

The most common type I've seen is the 'matchtracker', which RTÉ.ie use most weekends. Heineken.ie (pictured, bottom-left) have taken on a DCU student to liveblog during Heineken Cup matches.

Gerry Ryan: Ethics in the age of Twitter

A debate has started online, following the manner in which the news of Gerry Ryan's death became public.

Twitter user @adrianweckler (Sunday Business Post tech editor) was, it seems, the first to tweet the news. At 2:16pm, he wrote 'Gerry Ryan...? What?' before adding that there was a 'rumour mill' five minutes later. At 2:31pm, he wrote that a source claimed he had died. About 10 minutes later, Miriam O'Callaghan confirmed the news. She has since deleted her tweet (pictured).

The 'traditional' media then followed. Today FM tweeted the news at 2:47pm, and at the same time here on-campus, DCUfm tweeted a message of condolence. Today FM included it in their 3:02pm radio bulletin. RTÉ 2fm broke into their regular programming with a breaking news bulletin at 3:30pm. DJ Larry Gogan, his voice trembling, played songs in memory of his "dear friend".