Citizen journalism is not only beginning to act as a local addition to our regular news sources, however more and more independent networks focused on user-generated content (UGC) are popping up to empower people to lead the news agenda - which is exactly what MaYoMo, a new news service aims to deliver.

MaYoMo or Map You Moments offers participants a way to stay socially connected through a real-time platform for global news reporting and conversations about that news.

The video-centric news network is aimed at mobile citizens including citizen journalists, bloggers, journalism students and experienced freelance journalists from around the world. The network welcomes those interested in expressing their points of view on certain topics or events going on in the world.

The new service, which went live last week allows participants to request information or news from anywhere on MaYoMo’s world map and find out what happened, when or where. Participants from that location can then provide you with whatever information they may have available to them, giving everyone else witnessed reports or local commentary on the topic.

MaYoMo is also aware of the virtual worlds that many web 2.0 users spend a portion of their time on and have incorporated a special continent for their news content. Virtu is a virtual continent where participants can ask for news or send reports about events going on in worlds like Second Life, World of Warcraft and more.

“MaYoMo allows users to ask and answer the question, ‘What’s happening, where and when?’” said Hristo Alexiev, CEO and co-founder of MaYoMo. “We’re a ’social news network’ for journalists and their readers, empowering a new era of Internet news creation and distribution.”

Members from 120 countries have already posted more than 57,000 news articles since it was first launched in an alpha version in 2008. MaYoMo is committed to becoming a credible news source in this space and has also launched a program with journalism schools in the U.S. and other countries to promote a forum for students to apply their skills on a global stage.