Oh yeah, to be honest I think social media is quickly replacing news in a way. I mean right now, when an event happens.. I go check twitter for tags, and see what people "on the ground" are saying. Sure that means many opinions could be thrown in, things taken out of context etc.. this way requires taking many sources and trying to find the truth.. but quite frankly the same could be said about news these days as well - as what they choose to report is simply that.. what they choose.
3speak's core vision actually mentioned this.. and I believe still does. Their goal was to empower citizen journalists and give them a place to share that wont be censored etc. With all my frustrations with the way they do things.. I still think that vision is a powerful one, and I hope they continue down that path. As they show tremendous potential as a project in this regard.