Do-it-Yourself Election Coverage

The man-on-the-street (MOS) reporting method is being taken to a whole new level with the 2008 presidential election. No longer do we need reporters to bring us a "random" sampling of comments from people who have just voted.

Now, you can quickly get a glimpse of people who have just voted throughout the country.

Those people are reporting directly to the Internet audience through live tweets on Twitter's Vote Report and YouTube's Video Your Vote. The Tweets, which are geographically positioned on a map and constantly updated, show where the longest wait times are in the country. The Tweeters also report problems they've spotted at the polls.

YouTube has teamed up with PBS to provide polling video and reaction from voters, who can upload their own comments. Many other media outlets are doing the same online.

I know this sampling isn't very scientific, but the number of participants far outweighs the number of people we used to snag for the old MOS. This is a much more diverse and representative bunch.

And you can bet if there are any chads hanging this year, a Tweeter or YouTuber will be there to catch them.