Wow. It looks like our friend Brianna Wu has just joined The Society of Professional Journalists. She’s a journalist? I’m confused. Think I’m making this up? Well, here’s her tweet:

As you can see, she in fact did join that organization. I was curious how she became a member because as far as I am aware, she has no background whatsoever in journalism. I decided to jump over to the SPJ website and see what was required to become a member. I pulled up the online application which you can view here.

It looks like there aren’t really any qualifications required. The document has the applicant check off which medium they are associated with and that seems to be about it. So I guess anyone can become a member.

I wonder what category she checked off? I have to guess online, other, or non-media (That last one is strange.).

I also wonder what prompted her to join? I mean, I guess I could legitimately join as online, since I blog, but then, why? What benefit would I receive from being a member? Personally, I can’t see any. The SPJ seems to be an advocacy group for journalists as well as providing professional development for the same.

So the question is still there: What was Wu’s purpose in becoming a member? Maybe she’s just looking for some attention since no one has been talking about her recently. I guess I just gave her some attention.