One post focused on Twitter’s growth while the another pointed out how a Ann Arbor.com story is getting notoriety for its Hutaree coverage on MSNBC (Rachel Maddow).

Here’s what Erik wrote about Twitter: “I just received a story in a tweet that Twitter is up to 100 million users and plans to roll out a revenue concept based on advertising and promoted tweets. Having used Twitter for the past few weeks or so, I’m starting to see it’s use as a way to advertise breaking news, but am also dismayed by the amount of drivel people post. I’m also reminded that CNN uses a similar technique during election coverage to pretty reasonable results, and consider it most effective during the many debates. I have to consider, though, that the technology almost requires the use of smart phones to be most effective. Otherwise, what’s the point if the user is tied to a computer and not really ‘on the go?’”

Here’s what Erik had to say: “The three-member U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided unanimously that the Federal Communications Commission has no authority to regulate the Internet. More specifically, it “lacks authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks,” according to an Associated Press story that appeared on Yahoo! News.

Comcast, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. among others applaud the decision as supporting network neutrality, but the decision also seriously hampers the government’s plan to expand broadband access. In effect, because the FCC cannot regulate it, it will have a difficult time establishing official net neutrality regulatory guidelines and will be unable to proceed with some elements of the expansion plan including ‘tapping the federal fund that subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural communities.’

How did it all start? According to the story, ‘The case centers on Comcast’s actions in 2007 when it interfered with an online file-sharing service called BitTorrent, which lets people swap movies and other big files over the Internet. The next year the FCC banned Comcast from blocking subscribers from using BitTorrent.’ Comcast blocked access, the FCC at the time said you can’t really do that, and Comcast said that’s a policy decision and not a regulatory one. ”

Erik raises a good point about the role of the government and whether markets can provide regulation on their own. It’s also important to note that this decision likely isn’t the end of the story. Aside from another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, it sill leaves open the possibility of Congress empowering the FCC to serve in this role.

Here’s Erik’s take: “Apparently a majority of bloggers consider themselves journalists, according to a recent study by PR Week and PR Newswire, and described on TechCrunch.com. The study – to be released in full in April – identifies 52% of bloggers surveyed who consider themselves journalists, an increase from 33% in 2009.

Nevermind the stats about social network use (91% of bloggers “always” or “sometimes” use blogs for research; 68% of online reporters do the same; 35% of newspaper reporters and 38% of print magazine reporters use blogs or social networks for research). What came to mind when I read the article – what really tickled my funnybone – is the thought that bloggers can become journalists online now just about the same way other people can become ordained.”

Here is what Erik said: “I saw the following story just a little while ago on Yahoo! News, and was intrigued. … The article cites a statistic that an average user becomes a fan of only about four pages a month, while claiming to “like” something stays about the same.”

BTW, class-related posts will continue to be here, although as we create the niche blogs I may utilize the blogger version as an example. In those cases, expect a link post here — just like this one — to alert you.

Also, Erik S. e-mailed this link to an editing program with a 30-day free trial. Here’s what he said:

“I did find Corel’s VideoStudio Pro X3 to be quite intuitive compared to a program like, say, Adobe’s Premier Elements 8, and editing even on the advanced level was pretty much a breeze. … Not only did the program not crash like Adobe’s was prone to, but it’s also up to $30 less expensive with the student discount compared to Premier Elements 8 with the same. All in all a good program for PCs from what I’ve been able to figure out so far.”

YPSILANTI, Mich. — Even months later after I first typed this, the message remains the same: Ignore Twitter at your own peril.

That was the message I heard from a presentation by Twitter media veteran T.J. Ortenzi at an Online News Association training seminar I attended last fall in Ann Arbor. He cited some staggering numbers why. The microblogging Web site already has 25 million users and it’s expected to quadruple to 100 million by the end of 2010 and 1 billion by 2013 (Well, Twitter thinks so in internal documents, anyway — we should be skeptical — we are journalists).

So, chances are the site stands to only increase in value as a tool for journalists and news organizations. As I’ve heard elsewhere, the session talked about how not only does Twitter provide a way to push out content, such as stories when they are published online, but it also can be a great way to provide breaking news.

In addition, Ortenzi, now associated news editor for The Huffington Post, described several leads on stories and sources he found while he ran the Twitter account for The Seattle Times. One example he made was when he followed the account of a competing TV station over the Fourth of July weekend to get the jump on a death of a Seattle-area soldier who died on our nation’s birthday. He responded to the tweet and got the scoop.

He also talked about how using the advanced search option, you can find people who are registered in your immediate coverage area. While you would still have to verify where they are from, it’s yet another way to find quality sources. Ortenzi also discussed a new feature, Twitter lists, in which news organizations can more easily build a list of experts that the audience would want to follow.

Clearly, tweeting is more about announcing to the world your lastest story or blog post, it’s also about building a community where people find you.

• A how-to on Twitter for journalists
• Establish your own Twitter posse
• Mashable’s Twitter guide book
• Using Twitter in emergencies
• How Twitter lists will help journalists

Also, Twitter is one way for bloggers to expand their audience by Tweeting their posts. There are several programs that can do this automatically, and one I’m going to show you is called Twitterfeed on Thursday. You can also set up your tweets to be published on Facebook pages.

“As this posting on The New York Observer’s Web site indicates … both the Times and Huffington Post have grown their unpaid workforce to help maintain a presence in the blogosphere. What makes me laugh about the Times, at least for right now, is that to work there and earn no money for it (and maybe only some credit), you have pay someone else to attend classes. I guess this is what happens when 200 people are shaved off the rolls.”

I’m not advocating working for free, but a counter point might be that that this work would look good in a portfolio and be a better learning opportunity than any a professor at New York University could simulate within a class. Anybody else want to weigh in?