Social networking—the end of journalism?

So while reading The New York Times, I stumbled upon an extremely interesting and well-written (of course) story about the effect of social networking tools on countries with repressed mass media.

Here's the story.

While reading this I was hit with two major thoughts: One, it is amazing how far our technological innovations and new social networking tools have allowed for the free flow of information, even in countries where the government strives to limit information or even misinform their public. It's like the story says:

"... An Internet blogging service that did not exist four years ago has the potential to change history in an ancient Islamic country."

That hit me hard. These tools; Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, have changed the way information is shared all over the globe, forever. It can only grow from here. And it always astounds me how fast things progress. I mean, it took man millennia to perfect the wheel, and the Internet hasn't even been around for half a century! It boggles my mind... I can't even imagine what we'll be able to do in five, ten years. One, even.

Which brings me to the second thought I had while reading this article.

Are these social networking tools making journalism obsolete? I mean, if people worldwide can instantly share something with anyone and everyone with the click of a button, then what is the use of my job? It even stated in the article that "journalists were told on Tuesday that they could not cover protests without permission. The restrictions 'effectively confine journalists to their offices,' a spokesman for the BBC said."

So if people are in the middle of the action getting the story while a journalist is restricted to the bleachers... then what?

Oh me oh my... it really causes a journalist to break out in a bit of a sweat.

Well, to conclude, while I think this flow of information is ground-breaking and no-doubt critical for Iran, what's a journalist to do?

Thoughts?