You Heard It Here...FIRST.

Facebook.

Such an interesting place it can be at times.

What I am beginning to find more interesting is how it has become a primary source of news for many -- myself included.

For example, the other day we had an early morning earthquake. It jolted me awake, I posted about it on Facebook, scrolled to see if anyone else had posted about it...no one had...I rolled over and went back to sleep. Woke up a couple hours later and my newsfeed was flooded with "earthquake posts." And yes, the local media had posted about it as well. I imagine at that point it was then "real" news. Nope...not necessarily.

It almost seems these days that "we, the local reporter" are the first "reliable" source of news, and then the media outlets catch up. My experience at the very beginning of this paragraph is proof. I felt the earthquake first...posted about it...and thereafter, the news outlets followed suit. Interesting, ain't it.

That was a fairly harmless case of "Facebook News Reporting."

Other times the posts can be a bit startling.

Case in point -- the mother who was on the news yesterday after the tragedy on Orlando. She found out that her son may have been in danger by seeing a Facebook post that her son's friend had posted. She didn't know his exact whereabouts or his condition. At that time all she had to go on was a Facebook post. Can you imagine?!? What a terrible way to find out that your child may have been harmed!

Gone are the days when the authorities knock on your door and break the news to you gently.

Nope. These days it's IN YOUR FACE...in the palm of your hand. No "softening the blow." Just there...BAM!

I felt awful for that Mom. No one should have to find out about their child (or anyone's) unfortunate circumstance via social media.

Unfortunately, I read in the news today that her son was in fact one of the ones killed yesterday. My heart cries for her, as well as all the others, but there was something so incredibly poignant about her plea for her son's whereabouts and his condition. She really touched me.

Other times that I find startling are when folks "tag" someone in a post. Sometimes it's in the form of a "RIP" post, which then shows up on the deceased's page. Wow! What a terrible way to find out that someone has passed. I have found out that way a number of times. Tagging someone that way doesn't even give the deceased's family a chance to make any calls. The "news" has already been broken.

Or in other situations. I recently saw someone post a request for prayer. Didn't specify the reason and quite honestly, they didn't need to. The only one who needs to know the reason for a prayer request is God...and He already knows. All we need to do is intercede and pray, as asked.

A little while later, on the same person's page was a post from another friend pretty much spelling out what's going on with the one who requested prayer. Even though the prayer "requester" didn't give the reason, because the other person "tagged" the "requester" in their post, it then ends up showing up on the "requesters" page. When I see that I always wonder, "Are they okay with you posting this? Were they ready for everyone to know the whole situation? If they were, wouldn't they have included the info in their prayer request?" I dunno. Maybe I'm overthinking. I just think that folks don't really think things through before they go to "tagging" other folks on posts.

Such is life in the wonderful land of Facebook. It's still my favorite and most used form of social media, although I don't foresee too many things changing in the near future. Folks will still continue to look there for what's going on in the world. Heck, like I said earlier, I'm guilty of it myself. I have CNN and NBC4LA as two of the very first posts that I see each day. By default, I have my newsfeed set up that way. I just find it interesting when I (or my friends) report local news sooner than "the broadcast news" does.

Let the DIALOGUE begin: Where do YOU get YOUR news from? The paper, television, social media, somewhere else?

Talk to me!

Til next time...