Thanks to Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz for picking up my blog post from Friday on the Rothbury story in the latest edition of the Hobson and Holtz Report #555 (from 46m 30s).

They raise some interesting issues about the role of traditional media and social media in reporting on a major news event.

Their conclusion is that we shouldn’t be surprised by less than savoury conversations that take place on social networks as they simply reflect society. I’ll watch the follow-up discussion with interest.

Philip Sheldrake makes a related point in a post on Marcom Professional.

“[…] perhaps we should focus on the net impact [of conversations on social networks], accepting that regardless of the net outcome significant attention must be paid to any extreme negatives.”

Are extreme views inevitable online in social networks and a small price to pay for the benefit of wholesale engagement? Its almost certainly the case and Hobson, Holtz and Sheldrake think so.