The proliferation of the internet has forced us to embrace the brave new world of technology. What once was thought of as a blip in life of the ever-powerful newspaper, the internet has become the driving force of a number of changes in the modern newsroom and has completely transformed the way we do journalism.

For example, every news editor at various newspapers I've spoken with over the past two months has told me that the morning meeting is no longer about the print product. Digital editors want to know what stories will be ready to post online by 8 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon. It makes sense. The idea is to unremittingly feed this dynamic machine — the proverbial umbilical cord to the insatiable online audience.

While those who thought that the internet would play out like Cross Color jeans were profoundly wrong, one thing I've learned that is probably the most profound pieces of information I have as a digital journalist:

People still like paper.

Following my first social media training with the newsroom, I developed a survey with about 8 questions. I wanted to find out what our reporters liked or disliked about the training, what I could be doing better and what they thought was missing from the training.

They thought the training was great and entertaining. They felt more comfortable with social media and felt that they'd use it more. But one thing they said that I thought they'd never say — they wanted handouts.

Really? Really.

So, I called their bluff. For the next week's training, I commissioned one of our staff designers to design a great handout that I made available to attendees.

People loved it. If you walk around the newsroom, you'll see them tacked up on the cubicle walls of a few folks.

This discovery is profound and could be, in a small way, an answer to a larger question in our industry. The fact is that people still enjoy the tactile exercise of reading something on paper. How can we leverage this need to make our business better?

The jury is still out on that. In the meantime, it's just something to think about.