Wired Journalists is a social network for journalists interested in talking about topics like blogging, video, and, well, social networks. They opened their doors to the public on January 22, and almost 2,000 wordy/nerdy types like myself have joined the site since.

Co-founder Ryan Sholin told me this via email:

The key, the mission, the logic behind WJ is the goal of connecting the “wired” with the “not-so-wired-just-yet” to share stories, quell fears, and generally let newbies know that the water’s fine; they can come on in.

It’s built on Ning, a really neat site that makes building a home for an online community very simple.

Communities like this have deep roots in the free and open source software movement. They’re necessary gathering points for folks who are pushing the envelope and building their own tools. It’s great to see journalists getting into the game.

UPDATE: Swapped image in for nasty flash embedding.