"Thou shall Link to outside sites"

Linking to other sites is a great change for online journalism. Users benefit because they can read more about a particular topic. For example, if a user, who has not followed closely the Caylee Anthony case, reads an article about Caylee Anthony's funeral on the Tampa Tribune and then the user becomes interested in more information about this case, he or she can click on links to other news sites. Let say the Tampa Tribune posts a link to the Orlando Sentinel, well, then the user can find out information dated back to when the case started, like the first 911 call where the mother reports Caylee as missing. With this example, I am trying to show that linking to other journalistic sites can definitely help users be more informed on interested topics, and it also encourages the user to explore further on his or her own.
However, for mainstream news media who have not started their "linking journalism", the idea may seem a little weird - really, who wants to send traffic to a competitors site? But fortunately, just as users benefit from linking - so do these online news outlets. Linking offers mainstream news media the opportunity to build a media outlet community where users become familiar with all the sites and the type of media outlets they are.

I think linking will give other sites web traffic and credibility. If users noticed that the information that they are reading from the linked sites is reliable, than users will want to read articles posted in that site. But I do not think that linking will minimize traffic from the first site because users will also see it is reliable - considering that the site is linking to other reliable sites. This idea is true because linking will bring people back even after they have been sent away.

I think that the AP and other wire services will continue to exist - even as more site starts linking. However, I think that maybe in the future, wire services may change the way they do business to accommodate the growing trend in linking.