Things always change, and news coverage is not above evolution.

During the Persian Gulf War a small cable network called CNN proved people wanted and would support a 24-hour news channel.

The sports world soon followed when ESPN began several spin-off channels, including ESPNEWS.

Newspapers have been forced to change the way they cover news thanks to the Internet, which allows news to break instantly.

The problem of getting news out in a timely manner is amplified for non-daily papers like The Franklin County Times.

Beginning in the fall this will no longer be a problem for the sports department, as social media outlets will allow us to get information to the readers as soon as it happens.

By the time football season begins, The Franklin County Times sports department will have both a Twitter account and a Facebook page dedicated to nothing but sports.

Final scores of games will be posted when the final buzzer sounds and quotes from players and coaches will be available before most fans can drive home.

Coverage will revolve mostly around local athletics, but important breaking news at the collegiate and professional level will also be posted.

We are excited about these new avenues of information for several reasons.

The most important is getting news to the readers as quick as possible. We are also excited about being able to provide coverage of college and professional sports that we do not have room to discuss in the paper.

We hope readers enjoy the coverage these social networking sites allow us to provide.

We look forward to watching the number of Twitter followers and Facebook fans grow as the school year progresses and fans of local teams get results of games earlier than ever.