BBC College of Journalism Blog - A vigorous and robust discussion about journalism from every perspective.

Since I started at Sky News in 2009, I've worked as a field producer and deputy news editor on a wide range of national and international stories. Both roles need all of the traditional journalism skills: the ability to stand up and break stories, to hit the phones, knock on doors and talk to people.

However, as time has gone on, working as a journalist has meant adapting to and dealing with the emergence of the 'new media', and in particular social media. When I trained as a journalist, my use of social media was limited to posting the odd (stone cold sober) picture of a night out on Facebook; Twitter wasn't even on my radar. Five years later and things have changed substantially. Twitter has become a core part of my work (and my Facebook privacy settings are now much, much higher).

Working on the newsdesk of an international news channel involves monitoring, filtering, digesting and prioritising a vast amount of information. You have to be across picture feeds, wire drops, emails, and obviously reports from your journalists in the field. Social media has added another dimension to what I do.

To me, my Twitter feed is a personalised wire service, except, unlike the traditional wires, I have to interact with it. I've found there is an added benefit to interacting and becoming known for being quick to break news: my followers have become an extra tipping service. I often receive tweets from followers along the lines of 'have you seen this' or 'check their timeline', and this interaction has proved invaluable, leading to me being first to a number of big stories.

Constantly interacting and monitoring a Twitter feed of more than 2,000 sources plus a variety of different lists isn't easy, but there is no other option if I want to work in this role at a 21st century news organisation.

My Twitter feed provides me with everything from tips to official statements, the majority of which have been published on Twitter before anywhere else. There is no doubt that Twitter is currently the fastest way to publish and spread information. However, I would never call myself a 'social media journalist' and I don't believe social media is the sole future of news.

The nature of social media is that it spreads news quickly, but it can also be an echo chamber for rumour. The recent tweets of the death of Margaret Thatcher are one great example of untrue rumour spreading like wildfire. The interesting thing is that, when these rumours explode, people look to traditional journalists for the facts.

Ultimately, this has led to a point where journalists need social media as much as social media needs journalists; people want news fast but they want to know what's true and what's rumour. The days of a journalist just being a face on a TV screen, voice on the radio, or a name on the page, have ended: we now have to be a part of the conversation.

Neal Mann describes himself as a freelance journalist and social media junkie working for the likes of Sky News. He tweets @fieldproducer.