Talk about the irony - I am writing this blog because my flight was canceled due to bad weather in Central China. Then again, this might be the only time I will have to write and reflect about the recent snow storm that nearly paralyzed China.

Let me share with you the highlights what I observed during the last three weeks.

CNN's images of the chaotic Guangzhou train station, not surprising, was not shown on China's local networks, or at least I did not come across with those vivid images on local stations. Instead, what we saw is the effectiveness of the government in taking care of the travelers, providing temporary shelter and food. Images of high level government officials visiting railway stations, hard hit provinces and talking to ordinary people stranded on highways have been frequent in the last few weeks. Radio stations would announce the rapid recovery of electrical power in certain cities..... An atmosphere of unity, sacrifice and harmony. This is what the Party preaches.

Yet, what we also saw is that government officials would get angry in front of TV stations when they learn that something was not going according to plan. Like the mayor of Shanghai, TV stations showed him challenging and getting angry at Shanghai municipal department in charged of road cleaning and traffic, all in front of a camera crew. It seems that the government official wants to be portrayed as responsible, yet it is the layers of bureaucracy that is delaying the rescuing efforts.

To tell you the truth, it is hard to know the real damage of this storm, but what we know is that this storm has come at a very sensitive time - Beijing Olympics is just 7 months away. Worldwide media will be challenging China of its skills during crisis management. And I am sure that the Chinese government will use Katrina as a rebuttal, and with a bit of passion, the government might use the attacks as part of nationalism build-up.

So don't be surprised if you come across with ordinary Chinese citizens not aware of the near-breakdown at the Guangzhou railway station. Because they never saw it or heard about it!

According to the Associated Press, Barack Obama has raised $7.2 million for his presidential campaign over the two days following Super Tuesday! That is in addition to $32 million he raised in January. Most of this total is comprised of small donations from almost 700,000 individuals across the country, and 90% are through the web.

In 2004, Howard Dean pioneered the concept of using the internet to build grassroots support for his candidacy, but Barack Obama has perfected it.

It all starts with his website barackobama.com, a simple, elegant site that contains everything from instructions on setting up your own my.BarackObama networking website to a section on Kids for Obama that teaches children how to get involved with his campaign, including drawing a picture of Obama sitting in the White House. Highlighting the extent his campaign relies on the internet, the home page features a list of 18 social networks where fans can visit and interact with other Obama supporters including Facebook, Flickr and Eons.

If you sign up for the campaign’s mailing list, you receive short, almost daily emails from Barack and Michelle Obama with headlines like “Turn on your TV” when he was about to give his victory speech in Iowa or “Startling News” when Hillary Clinton announced she had loaned $5 million of her own money to her campaign. I doubt many people actually believe that the candidate is actually typing up emails at the last minute to send, but the connection and the immediacy are undeniable. Each email has a link to donate on BarackObama.com where you can make a donation of as little as $25, using a credit card.

Whether Barack Obama ends up being our next president or not, you can be sure candidates of the future will all be studying how his campaign used the internet to generate excitement and donations.

Anderson Cooper, beware. Seventeen-year old high school student James Brierton is about to give you a run for your money. And the folks paying your salary -- CNN -- are giving him all the tools he needs.

Today, CNN is planning to formally launch iReport.com -- a novel news portal featuring reports from everyday citizens who witness news first-hand. CNN's approach is laissez faire, providing only the platform for individuals to post, comment and rate news items from the public. It plans to exercise no editorial control, according to MediaWeek.

Mainstream media's efforts to blend "social media" with professionally reported news isn't particularly new. We've seen plenty of examples of blending news from citizen and established sources together in the past. What's unique about CNN's new iReport.com effort is that it's completely firewalled from the company's "core" news products.

(CNN's iReport Beta)

iReport blends a number of simple publishing tools and collaboration technologies into what appears to be a promising news product. Contributors who publish the most highly-regarded content (as rated by the community) most often receive the biggest accolade -- an "iReporter Superstar" designation. A quick look at early iReporter profiles unearths participants from Los Angeles to Des Moines to New York, mostly high school and college age.

James Brierton (known as "jbjimbo") is one such contributor. His brief bio on the site suggests he's a serial reporter, participating in his school newspaper, an online radio station, and more. James has shared more than a dozen stories with the world in his perspective via CNN's iReporter portal, ranging from political commentary, severe weather, local crime, to social issues.

While technology helps facilitate the growth of citizen journalists like James, it's not the primary reason they participate. Most contributors share because they have a point of view or a story to tell, and want to reach as broad of an audience as possible. Technology just makes it easier.

And technology isn't the reason why news seekers' appetites for first-person news grows, either. The reason citizen-penned content is becoming more attractive is authenticity. With the flurry of news choices at our fingertips, hungry news seekers increasingly want news without spin, direct from real people, in their own words. These unfiltered sources are now one of many key ways individuals consider different viewpoints and formulate their own opinions.

From a PR perspective, it's becoming more important for communications initiatives to help encourage or facilitate first-hand reporting. The more that practitioners can help create the environment for authentic buzz to grow through tools like iReport, the more they'll see authentic citizen reports about their companies and brands.