When a college newspaper makes the transition to pull a Web site out of the dark dank closet and make it an integral part of their reporting, certain tools may be utilized to improve certain types of reporting.

www.coveritlive.com is a free service that allows play-by-play updates with the ease of Twitter but the sophistication of a chatroom. It allows for interaction in the form of questions and comments posed by the users, the addition of media including sound, video and photos to be quickly and easily uploaded and best of all, it's free and easy to use.

The Ferris State Torch just used this source for the last two nights to give game action as the Bulldogs took on the RedHawks of the University of Miami Ohio in Division I hockey. A big deal for many and nothing that the paper would wait for the games to finish to report on.

Heavy advertising or promotion wasn't spent on the use of this new feature on the Torch's site, as its usefulness had not yet been determined, but after two successful games and a fair bit of use, I can say with confidence that it has improved the news experience for some of our readers.

Do you use any other programs that may be beneficial to "up-to-the-minute" reporting? Is twitter enough? What if you report something wrong?