Through Wired Journalist I was introduced to Brian Newsome, a beat reporter in Coloroda Springs who writes for the Gazette.

He informed me that the Gazette has blogs, including one from a reporter in Iraq. But the paper hasn’t employed beat blogging – the act of creating a network around a beat, letting sources chat asynchronously.

Brian has the health beat and contacted me to find out how the other Beat Bloggers are going about starting their networks and what exactly we mean by "beat blogging." He hopes to do the same in Colorado. We spent a lot of time talking about the difference between Google Groups, Ning and Facebook – and what the right platform might be for him – covering health in Colorado.

We had a nice conversation, which included practical questions: How much time does this require, what is the measurement of success, will this work locally, do I NEED a blog, and more. Eventually we moved towards the grander scheme of things – anyone can do this!

Beat blogging is not scientifically tested and we don’t own the concept. There is no way to know if your beat is right to build a social network around it. There is only one way to find out – TRY IT.

Anyone can do it: And it is far cheaper and easier to just jump in head first than it is to have countless meetings and debates about whether or not to try it.

Anyone can do this. If enough people do – we can learn together.

I’m following the 13 organizations listed to the right here closely – but I’m keeping my eye on as many reporters as possible. If you think you are or want to be a "beat blogger" – let me know.

I will keep in touch with Brian – as he is (whether he likes it or not) an affiliate beat blogger now.

The other two I have kept in touch with are:
Alexis Madrigal
(who I am due to contact again to discuss his progress)
and
Matt King
I recently had another email exchange with Matt who continues his personal blog and  a Ning site. The next post will be a quick recap of that conversation.