While viewers gathered around the television to tune into the London Olympic Games this past summer, others took to social networking sites for coverage hours before the events aired.

Bryan Murley, a journalism professor who focuses on new and emerging media, said people have instant access to news and information with the incorporation of social media.

“People will see what you produce and respond immediately,” Murley said.

Olympic Medalist Michael Phelps, for example, tweeted about his swim-race events and practices, receiving instant retweets and response from some of his more than 1 million followers.

“Before, pre-Internet for instance, newspapers had to wait until the following day to publish something, and broadcast news would wait until its’ primetime to report on things,” Murley said.

Ray Long, a Chicago Tribune statehouse reporter, said in email that he tweets about news stories whenever he thinks they are relevant to readers.

He said he tries staying ahead of other reporters when racing to get a good story but shares stories from other journalists covering topics similar to his.

“I post stories from different mediums and different outlets when they are interesting to me and I think some of the followers will like them too,” Long said.

Journalists get news at a rapid pace and feed it to their audience, Murley said.

“It’s a collaborative effort,” he said. “Journalists also help each other in delivering the news.”

When looking for stories, though he said he uses social media sparingly, Long actively follows politicians in the state of Illinois, looking for leads whenever they pop up.

The Chicago Tribune hosts a blog called “Clout Street.” Long is a member of the team that helps feed the blog stories and said it provides them with immediate feedback from readers.

“It’s a great way to hear from readers, and they often send advice or tips,” Long said.

As the incorporation of social media continues to grow within news, sometimes flooding the Internet with a pool of coverage, Murley said readers are given the ability to weed out the good coverage from the faulty coverage.

#NBCfail and #NBCStinks became two of the most popular hashtags on Twitter when people zinged the company for its Olympic coverage.

Andrea Kremmer, an NBC Olympic reporter, was quickly criticized for her interview with the U.S. men’s 400-meter freestyle relay team.

In the interview after the men won, she asked, “A gold medal, how does it feel? It’s got to feel pretty good, right?”

The Onion was quick to respond and mock her skills as a reporter in an article, which earned 537 retweets and more than 1,000 likes on Facebook.

Jaime Lopez can be reached at 581-2812 or jlopez2@eiu.edu.