My name is Jennifer Newell, but you might know me as . . . → Read More: Welcome to the new Social Media blog on ScoopTheDirt]]> Welcome to the new Social Media blog on ScoopTheDirt.com! We’re excited to start building an audience and cover social media events in the Denver/Boulder area. We also want to provide you selective commentary on advances and innovations in the ever-changing arena of social media.

My name is Jennifer Newell, but you might know me as jennyjenjen on Twitter. I’m running this section of ScoopTheDirt. I have used social media, quite heavily, since back in the day — ya know, when Friendster was more popular than MySpace and Facebook was exclusive to certain universities. While I’ve been online for almost 14 years, I consider that period of time to be the early stages of when social media truly became social; we’ve always had the tools to interact with one another in the online world, but these innovations toppled traditional structures and paved the way for a more complete communication experience. I won’t bother you with a whole ton of Web 2.0 talk — does anyone else that phrase as much as I do?! — but as someone with a background in journalism, I also think it’s worth my time and yours to discuss how we’ve evolved from newspapers and ‘slow’ news into a blogging, tweeting, real-time-updating society.

Furthermore, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what we should cover here at ScoopTheDirt. Are you new to social media and need some guidance? Do you know of some special events that should be recognized? Feel free to post your suggestions in the comments!

Before I get any further into covering social media events and issues, I’m planning on making my next blog entries a recap of some of my social media experiences in the Boulder area, like Andrew Hyde‘s Boco, and a visit from Twelve Hours in a City guy Clark Dever. Stay tuned!