Newspaper model broken. Americans get their news more from blogs and Twitter than they do from this newspaper.

How can you, as a nonprofit marketer and fund raiser take advantage? Read on.

Newsies in the early 1900’s were as much the news sharers as they paper they sold. While we don’t have kids hawking papers on street corners today, we have a similar phenomenon that while we trust our local newspapers to give us the news straight up, we trust more the newsies of the 21^st century: bloggers and Twitterers. Truth be told, bloggers and Twitterers are really “anti-newsies”  because real newsies used their headline yelling to sell more papers. The anti-newsies leave newsstands at the end of the day with dozens of unsold copies.

It is common knowledge over the past 18 months that traditional media outlets—especially newspapers—are struggling mightily to keep their operations above water. With the proliferation of blogs and Twitter, you and I aren’t going to our big local daily newspapers for our news as much as we used to. We each have our own trusted bloggers and Twitterers from whom we soak up the “news” we want. It no longer is the big daily newspapers that are determining for the public what “news” is.

The little secret in the newspaper world today is that these bloggers and Twitterers are not only the source of news for the public now, they’re also the source of story ideas for the journalists at your local dailies. A reporter from one of the local metropolitan dailies spoke recently at my Rotary Club and she told us that she has three main sources for story ideas and information: trusted contacts all over her beat that she talks with on a regular basis; story tips emailed to her from readers; and blogs and Twitter that are talking about the things on her beat. This is groundbreaking in terms of opportunity for nonprofits to get their story heard.

The news gathering paradigm has shifted in a gargantuan way, and as the newspaper industry searches for ways to change their business model, nonprofits have the opportunity today to get ahead of the newspapers in changing their media relations strategies. Traditionally, getting your nonprofit covered by a local daily newspaper was a big deal as the newspaper was a powerful and respected story-sharing outlet. Today, blogs and Twitter may be an even more powerful way of getting your message out.

You need to be doing two things in this new paradigm. One, you must find the respected bloggers and Twitterers who write about the type of work you are doing and get them on your contact list much as you have your local media contacts on a list that you send potential story ideas and press releases out to. The goal is to get those bloggers and Twitterers who have a faithful following to be talking about your organization, event, program, and news. Two, you should be actively employing blogs and Twitter on your own. The key word here is “actively.” Any blog that isn’t updated nearly every day is quickly going to lose the attention of your followers. It used to be that Websites had to be kept up to date and regularly changed so that viewers had a reason to check your Website often, it’s even truer with blogs.

This news paradigm shift is good news for nonprofits as such strategies are very low in cost, and very high in potential return. Nonprofits small and large have the opportunity today to take advantage of the 21^st century newsie—you.