If one thing has become clear in the last few years, your personal journal is no longer hidden under your red shirt in your third dresser drawer. Online communities exist around photos, videos, neighborhoods, schools and more. How can journalists tap into these communities to develop new story ideas? And how far is too far? Should you really be pinging and friending your councilmember?

Eric Janssen, Online Director, The Commercial Appeal; Jose Antonio Vargas, reporter, Washington Post; Alan Rappeport, staff writer, CFO.com; Chris Tolles, CEO, Topix.