Blogging is hard
When I launched this blog, I promised PRWeek editor Keith O’Brien I would give him $1 for every working day that I didn’t post to the blog, to add to a drink bank for the editorial team. So far, I think I’ve bought two glasses of good whiskey.
First-time bloggers often find it is more difficult to populate a blog than they imagined it would be. I am not a first-timer, so I knew that when I was traveling, for example, I would struggle to post new items. Hence the wager - to keep me honest and motivated, and the editorial team sober.
The problem isn’t so much time, as time to read. Because what the best bloggers do is aggregate vast quantities of information, and then provide not only context and opinion, but actual links to the material. A blog post without a link is virtually useless (for more on the art of blogging, check out this ) One day out of my usual media consumption routine and it takes me ages to catch up. I have enormous respect for prolific bloggers, though I also doubt they have much time to spend on their day jobs.
And thank god for it, from a media perspective. Many of the conversations about blogs relates to the way that marketers should pitch and work with them, and with the ethical lines that bloggers may or may not cross when engaging with those marketers. Those of us who work for traditional publications need to be thinking just as hard about engaging the communities of bloggers that live within our subject-matter ecosystems. They are carrying our content to more far places than we are alone. We must be mindful of delivering our stories through all available channels, including RSS feeds, and mobile-enabled content.
Of course, ultimately we all want our own publications to be go-to destinations on the web and in print. But building our audience in the blogosphere is important for building awareness, audience, and influence. But as I have mentioned in previous posts, it doesn’t mean writing about American Idol just to get the hits.
Julia,
You make a great point, one that I try to emphasize often, on how writers producing blogs for mainstream publications need to get out and interact with the larger community. That’s something that’s overlooked far too often, especially considering it’s not too different from what PR people advice their corporate clients to do.
I’m glad you’re doing so and wish more would follow your lead.
I know what you mean. I try to get a new post up on my blog as soon as I watch a new movie or go somewhere new to eat, but life has a tendency to get in the way. Then, especially with what I write about, it gets even harder to write the entry because what I ate or watched is just less fresh in my mind. I’m glad I don’t have to follow your system though. I’m a college student so that would send me to the poor house.
Thanks again for coming and speaking at CofC!
Thanks for the comment, David - keep in touch!