15 S E P T 09 3340 Blogs& Journalism

Role of blogs University of North Texas Department of Journalism Online Journalism 3340 Sept. 15, 2009

Today’s class
Tool of the day
Blogging
Post Due Thursday

What is a blog?
A Blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.
Source: http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/

What is a blog? Cont.
The Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs.
Since all blogs are on the Internet by definition, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked.
Discussions "in the Blogosphere" have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues.

Blogs defined…
Blurring lines between what is a blog and what is a mainstream media site become less clear.
Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere.
In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs (see The Bivings Group).

What is blogging?
A truly global phenomenon: Technorati tracked blogs in 81 languages in June 2008, and bloggers responded to our survey from 66 countries across six continents.
Integral part of the internet
Bloggers have been at it an average of three years and are collectively creating close to one million posts every day. Blogs have representation in top-10 web site lists across all key categories, and have become integral to the media ecosystem.

Who’s blogging?
Not a homogenous group: Personal, professional, and corporate bloggers all have differing goals and cover an average of five topics within each blog.
Savvy and sophisticated: On average, bloggers use five different techniques to drive traffic to their blog. They’re using an average of seven publishing tools on their blog and four distinct metrics for measuring success.
Intensifying their efforts based on positive feedback: Blogging is having an incredibly positive impact on their lives, with bloggers receiving speaking or publishing opportunities, career advancement, and personal satisfaction.

Source: http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/who-are-the-bloggers/

Future of blogs
“ The future of blogs will have arrived when you check your favorite blog for sports news in the morning, instead of your local paper.”
Richard MacManus, Founder / Editor, ReadWriteWeb, www.readwriteweb.com

Journalists & Blogs
‘ I was surprised at just how much these journalists felt their work had been changed by the simple act of blogging.’
Paul Bradshaw, When Journalists Blog: How It Changes What They Do, Nieman Reports, Winter 2008 ( http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=100696 )

How blogging makes a difference
“ Cutting out the middleman”
No guessing on who the readers are:
They’re reading the reporters’ blogs
Sources are going directly to reporters
Diminished role of public relations professionals
Blogs generating story leads
Creating a greater variety of sources
Fueling debate on hot stories
Readers as integral parts of the story development

How blogging makes a difference
Blogs generating story leads
Creating a greater variety of sources
Fueling debate on hot stories
Readers as integral parts of the story development
“ Putting a call out” for information
Reporting a “two-way, on-going” process
Collaboration/crowdsourcing
Ability to gather more information than you need

“ On hot-button stories where our readers are asking a lot of questions, we post updates every time we make a phone call. For example, [a company] declared bankruptcy and the new owner wouldn’t take the previous owner’s gift cards.
“ Our readers were peeved and hounding us to do something. The corporate folks weren’t saying anything so we didn’t have any new information to report. Because we didn’t have any new info, we didn’t write anything in the paper.
“ But on our blog, we would post updates at least daily to tell people when we left a message and if we had heard back yet. We eventually scored an interview with the new CEO and posted it in its entirety on our site.
“ Another reporter saw it and called us. We swapped info. Our readers also post links to other stories on the topic from other news orgs.” (Respondent 63, US, newspapers)

How blogging makes a difference cont.
More stories, quicker
“ Speed, depth, informality” (Matheson, 2004)
Ability to post shorter stories as the story is evolving – why wait for a “deadline”?
Aggressive coverage of a story while integrating relevant links:
“ Covering what you do best and linking to the rest,” Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine.com
Stories have more legs, more voices
Stories as conversations

How blogging makes a difference cont. Source: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/10/15/blogging-journalists-pt2-blogs-and-news-ideas-the-canary-in-the-mine/

How blogging makes a difference cont.
Stories just don’t die
No limitations due to space, deadlines
No constraints on distribution
“ Everybody is a paperboy/girl.” (Bradshaw, 2008)
No more “file and forget”
Once published, there are comments
Follow up, new leads, new information
Add, correct information
Source: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/10/15/blogging-journalists-pt2-blogs-and-news-ideas-the-canary-in-the-mine/

Changing relationships with audience

What’s this mean?
Audience becomes more familiar with reporter
Journalists feel:
More accountable
More exposed
More obliged to interact, respond, talk to audience: No more hiding for fear of being called out

Overall impact blogs & journalism
Hugely positive
Increased SEO: Search engine optimization
Increased site traffic
Greater interaction with audience

Key Terms
Permalink
A direct link to your post
Trackback/Pingback
Allows bloggers to follow you
Attracts spam
Vlog: video blog

Making blogs work
Link, summarize, analyze
Get to the point
Be sharp, precise, poignant
Write strong, catchy headlines
Avoid cutesy
Preview, tweak, hook
Speak with authority & personality

Attracting viewers
Become a student of the subject
Read, read, read similar sites
Write daily
Respond comments
Use photos, screenshots

Creating Interactivity

Attracting visitors

Generating revenue? Source: http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/blogging-for-profit/

How much revenue? Ad Costs? Source: http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/blogging-for-profit/

The Interactive Audience
Shorter lines of communication between journalists and audience
Traditional Media:
Readers v. Non-readers
Readers an ‘amorphous mass’
Defined audience – by geography
Circulation, ‘signal’

The Interactive Audience
Now:
Individual, personalized, direct
Email addresses for reporters
Tracking readers: Story by story
Top Down Editors to Readers Readers in Control Audience Participation

Participatory journalism - “We Media” http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php?id=P36

15 S E P T 09 3340 Blogs& Journalism

by Neil Foote on Sep 16, 2009

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15 S E P T 09 3340 Blogs& Journalism — Presentation Transcript