Twelve months ago few people had heard of the phrase 'citizen journalism'. Now it has become part of the mainstream media, with picture agencies urging members of the public to send them the photos they take on their mobile phones.
But it's not just about snapping D-list celebrities in the checkout queue at your local supermarket. The Boxing Day tsunami and the London bomb attacks on July 7 showed that amateur footage taken on phones and digital cameras now has a unique role to play in telling major breaking news stories.
"It's not every picture that will make a lot of money," says Splash Pictures co-owner Gary Morgan. But a snap of Britney Spears' first wedding, taken by a witness at the ceremony, sold for a cool $150,000.
So have you become a "citizen journalist"? Do you have your camera phone at the ready, just in case Simon Cowell walks past smoking a menthol cigarette, or the police arrest a couple of terrorist suspects on your doorstep?
And if you did, would you go to a picture agency like Splash or scoopt.com, or would you go direct to a newspaper or broadcaster? Alternatively, are you too busy writing your blog to bother selling photographs? Or perhaps you're too busy reading this?
