Mashable takes a look at some of the early examples, and it is good to see that other news operations have been placed on the Twitter Lists of other newsrooms.

Twitter Lists have only been available for a short time and I, like many, put together a list (see @thisfrenchlife/france) but wondered what more could be done.

This example of using a list for breaking news is a great use of the service, but I could also see lists being created for other reasons:

- Conference or event coverage
- Local and national election campaigns
- Meet-ups and networking events

As an added extra it would be a simple task to run the list through the Twitter widget that lets people display their own and others' tweets elsewhere on the web.

It would require someone to gather together the Twitter accounts to place on a list, but it could also help people cut through some of the hashtag mayhem that can occur when people gather round a subject.

Fort Hood Shooting Shows How Twitter, Lists Can be Used for Breaking News - Poynter Online

I can also keep up to date with some of the interesting links and tweets that I've seen pass through my Twitter account (@craigmcginty) here's a bit of a pick:

Tips for teachers using Facebook
Although aimed at teachers in the US, many of the tips can still be applied not only by teachers, but by everyone with a Facebook account and who wants a little more control over how their information is displayed.

Only five per cent of readers would pay for online content
The first of a number of articles written by PaidContent following their commissioning of a study into how popular paid for content could be - or not as this article highlights.

Racing Post’s paid-for website approaches 10,000 subscribers
But it is well known that focussed, niche content, that can benefit readers financially, can be charged for, so we may see newspapers pick and choose which sections to put a pay wall around.

Google's mission to drive up newspaper revenue
A move from Google to try and get on the good side of newspapers and magazines who have been constantly saying that the search giant is taking more than giving.

Eleven more things I’d do if I ran a news organization
One of the first people I ever read about the changing news landscape was Dan Gillmor, and it's articles like this that have kept me reading ever since.

The Great Panto Review 2009: Oh yes it is
Another great fund raising idea from my pal Linda Jones, this time it involves bloggers reviewing pantomimes, with donations going towards the National Alliance of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisations.

Linda is looking for bloggers who are interested in doing a review, but also PR and marketing representatives of theatres staging shows who are able to offer review tickets.

William recently headed off to the other side of the earth with his partner and two children after having spent time on and off in New Zealand in the past.

The site will be offering news and advice for people looking to move to New Zealand as well as feature interviews with those who have made the move, as well as articles by William about his own experiences of life overseas.

As for making it pay, at the moment it is just via Google Adsense but as readership grows then Addiply is likely to come into play and I hope that William begins to gain in other ways from This New Zealand Life being recognised within its field.

Sarah writes more about her experiences of spending the past few years heading up one of the region's leading news websites.

And I've no doubt that a rosy future lies ahead for Sarah 'the glue' Hartley, as I used to call her for bringing the different corners of the Manchester digital scene together.

What does worry me is that this is yet another retrenchment from MEN Media as they cut back regional offices, slash the number of journalists they employ and now whittle away the ties that have developed with a burgeoning digital industry sector.

The MEN seems determined to cut its journalism costs yet at the same time it is distancing itself from local communities, be they geographical or interest based, eventually though it will be swamped as these groups gather and power forward.

Here is a quick round up of a few events that are sure to draw a crowd.

JEEcamp in Birmingham, Friday, May 8
With more than 60 people set to attend this 'unconference' style event proved very popular last year and looks set to be another cracker in 2009.

The rough outline for the get together is to talk about how on earth journalists and publishers can make a living from journalism in the era of free information, what the challenges are, and what we've learned so far.

Digital Britain Unconference in Manchester, Tuesday, May 12
Part of a series of events taking place across the country to discuss the issues raised by a recent government paper on the future of digital in the UK.

The meeting is being held at the offices of the Manchester Digital Development Agency, on Portland Street, with ideas and proposals being fed back to government.

Digital Editors Network in Preston, Tuesday, May 12
Gathering together digital editors for newspaper and media websites from around the north west, the Digital Editors Network will be looking at user generated content.

How to incorporate it into a site, the benefits that sites can gain from working with readers will be highlighted, but also some of the pitfalls.

Journalism Leaders Forum in Preston, Tuesday, May 12
The forum takes place in the early evening after the Digital Editors Network, and this time will play host to Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, as well as the head of news at ITV, Richard Frediani.

Up for discussion will be the future of newspapers and the role they play in the local community, hopefully Andy Burnham will be able to provide a little more on how government can help local journalism at a post-code level.

Social Media Cafe Special Event in Manchester, Thursday, May 14
If you have not been able to get along to a Social Media Cafe meeting then you are missing out on chatting and speaking to people from a wide variety of backgrounds.

And you have extra reason to get along to this month's get together as it will form part of the Futuresonic Festival in Manchester, and so will be taking place at the Contact Theatre on Oxford Road.

In the past newspapers were often at the centre of things, so every cough and sniff was covered, which is what readers wanted, and still do.

Over the years newspapers put barriers between themselves and their readers, in a physical sense many local offices were closed and in a community sense they began to ignore and dismiss what readers were doing.

The internet has now made it possible for 'birds of a feather to flock together' and so local community groups and organisations no longer need newspapers in the same way as the past.

Unfortunately few newspaper management teams have broken out of the newsroom and looked to engage with these groups online, and been what many call a platform, Jeff Jarvis describes how magazines could provide this.

But when newspapers do try to use some of these new tools and online destinations, they still only look to use them to 'push' content out to readers - blissfully unaware that they are in a push'n'pull world, one where communities and individuals are sharing and helping each other.

A case in point this morning is the use of Twitter by the Lancashire Evening Post (LEP) as it looks to source comment from people who experienced an earthquake that shook homes across the north of England.

They sent out a tweet saying: "A minor earthquake has been felt in Fleetwood, Thornton and in north Lancashire - anywhere else folks? Please email lep.newsdesk@lep.co.uk"

And Twitter is a good way of picking up feedback and comment from people, but it works both ways.

Since the beginning of April the LEP twitter account has sent out around 30 messages, a mix of automated headlines, tweets to get people to buy the newspaper and the odd joke or observation.

It replied to one other person on Twitter in an attempt to get a story, but didn't forward the comments, or retweet, any messages from the local Preston community in that time.

And newspapers wonder why they are being ignored, its a two-way street remember.

Want to see how an organisation uses Twitter effectively? Follow the Dogs Trust.

In a nutshell it offers publishers a chance to put businesses in front of a tightly focussed readership so that the two can meet and hopefully generate a long running connection between the two parties.

Here is my explanation to businesses of how to advertise on This French Life, so I won't go into great detail on that side of things, but I thought I'd write a piece on how I am making it work from a publisher's perspective.

I have come to realise that the advertising service can be seen as a way to support and connect people, which ultimately benefits my own site, because if everyone ups-sticks and heads out of France my site is snookered.

So I have looked at ways to ensure that advertisers get plenty of 'bang for their buck' and offered a price of 50p per 1,000 page views, this lets people pay £10 and their advert will be displayed 20,000 times, which is not a bad deal.

Something that I do stress, and which is pretty unique when compared to other competitor sites, is that a business owner's advert will appear on every page of the site (approximately 3,200) - very often people will only have the chance to appear in different sections.

And it is with this in mind that I have placed the advertising strip at the top of the right hand column of my site because I know it is a 'hot spot' and so readers will be able to see the services on offer.

When I first started using Addiply I of course did not have a vast number of people signed up so the first strip of adverts displayed just three available blocks, and I even opened an advertiser account myself and placed my own advert in there so it appeared populated.

There is a bit of psychology at play here, because like a forum without any posts, no one seems willing to go first but with an advert from myself I began to see people take up the option to try it out.

Another thing I do is every Friday write a very simple thanks to site advertisers post so that people who read the site via RSS are notified of those businesses helping the site, and I also include a link to the page that highlights how to advertise on the site.

One little techie point about this thank you post is that I place a no follow tag around the links to the websites of those companies currently advertising.

The only reason I do this is because search engines penalise so-called paid for links, and whilst I can vouch for all the websites that advertise on This French Life and would prefer to offer up a regular link, I don't want to run the risk of being penalised in search engine results.

I do think it is worth writing a simple guide to the advertising option as it not only allows browsers of the site to read it, I offer a link to it at the top and bottom of each page, it also lets you quickly send a link across to people who contact you directly.

You will also see that on this page I highlight those advertisers who have used the service which act as testimonials.

And I wouldn't be afraid to drop a line to people you write about in articles, especially events that are set to take place soon, as often organisers will have a little money set aside for advertising and I would say, impartially of course, that a locally focussed website is the best option.

It is still early days in the life of small, online publishers running financially viable operations, but if you begin to see things from the perspective of enabling connections to take place between businesses and readers I really believe the balance is tipping our way.

One of the tools featured was AudioBoo, which at the time was very close to being launched and offers an audio publishing service on an iPhone.

The developers of the services, Best Before Media, recently made it publicly available for iPhone users to install for free on their phones.

AudioBoo is designed as a very simple way to record conversations and then publish them to the AudioBoo website, but it is also possible to embed the recording into your own site as well as notify Facebook and Twitter of new recordings, or Boos.

As you can see from the video above it is possible to tag a Boo with descriptive words, assign a photograph and it also uses the geolocation facility in the iPhone to plot a point where the recording was made on a Google map.

The potential for journalists to use this was highlighted this weekend by James Hatts of the LondonSE1 website, who reported from a fire on New Kent Road.

The ease with which this service could be used during sport matches, local events and festivals, as well as interviews really opens up an opportunity for local journalists to feed stories back into their websites, as well as other corners of the web.

Audioboo: Can it be used for news reporting? Some case studies - Journalism.co.uk

Newspapers' supply-and-demand problem (Why you should quit doing what everyone else is)

“Facebook causes cancer” - Dr Ben Goldacre (again) has to be the questioner when journalists should be doing this themselves

Social networking benefits validated - Washington Times

Business models of news

A Google Map of UK independent news blogs