Older readers like Simon may bemoan their increasingly thin papers. But a whole new generation of Internet-savvy youngsters is being introduced to newspapers on the Web. There they can post links to their favorite stories on social networking sites like Facebook, compete against each other in online news quizzes and gain exposure to different opinions and coverage. Every day, my friends, family members and I trade e-mail about what we read online. My best friend and I, who exchange dozens of e-mails daily, gossip just as feverishly -- and as frequently -- about Ronald Brownstein's political insights as we do about Britney and Lindsay's latest shenanigans.

Read Simon's original take here.