Aspiring and professional journalists may spend countless hours fine-tuning their resumes and portfolios of work samples, but too often neglect their "twesumes," or Twitter bios. Here's how to improve yours.

Citizen journalism and social media have become major sources for news, especially after the Arab uprisings of early 2011. While technology helps newsrooms understand their readers and better use citizen sources, we remain blind to the way the news is used in turn by citizen sources to gain credibility and spread ideas.

Several journalists have been using Twitter to reach out to eyewitnesses and those who know victims of the Colorado theater shooting. While it’s common for journalists to try to contact sources on Twitter, it’s more challenging when the sources have been affected by a tragedy.

News travels quickly via TV, radio or online, but not as fast as it does over social media. The "Twittercycle" is faster, hyper-vigilant and often more nuanced than the traditional one.