Can citizen journalism and/or cyber technology raise global awareness?

Citizen journalism is truly a sign of the times. Mediums like YouTube, CNN iReport and twitter make news so much easier to convey to the masses. However, does it really raise global awareness? With the multitude of diversions available on the internet it becomes all too easy to just skip over things that you deem uninteresting. Comparing the amount of videos of YouTube that appeal to entertainment value as opposed to information value. Citizen journalism, nonetheless, may be more affective than traditional journalism. The mass appeal of citizen journalism stretches so much farther than institutionalized journalism due to a feeling of kinship among the bourgeois. Cyber journalism definitely has the potential to raise awareness to the global community but it's so easy to avoid that it almost becomes a space filler. Opening your homepage in your browser probably takes you to Yahoo!, AOL or Google, which all have a link to news somewhere on the page. However, most people tend to immediately load Facebook or twitter.

The answer to the question is yes. Citizen journalism has an overwhelming potential to reach people on a global scale that traditional media can't (or won't) do. Some mainstream media outlets won't even touch some stories that citizen journalism will enthusiastically report. Censorship also plays a great role in the appeal of citizen journalism. Overall, cyber technology really does help the spread of global narratives but it's largely dependent on the audience.