New approaches to research in a digital age

Paul Bradshaw Senior Lecturer, Online Journalism, Magazines and New Media, School of Media, Birmingham City University, UK (mediacourses.com) Blogger, Online Journalism Blog Journalism blogging

Are blogs mainstream?
85% UK news orgs have blogs
70% US newspapers (95% of top 100)
44% European news orgs

How it happened

1998: Drudge Report

2001: September 11

2002: Trent Lott

2003: Salam Pax

2003: Christopher Allbritton

2004: Memogate

2004: Asian tsunami

2005: London bombings

2007: Talking Points Memo

2007: Dave Winer wins a bet

2007: Myanmar protests

2008: Chinese earthquake

Is blogging a genre?

Is this blogging?

1. Conversational, social, networked

2. Incomplete, open, ongoing

3. Personal, informal, reflective

“ Pre-surfed web”

Expert analysis

Synthesis

Opinion

Anything you want it to be.

It’s just a platform really.

Why do you blog?

3 reasons

Editorial Leads, speed, space

2. Commercial SEO, distribution, accountability

3. Professional Networking Pulling power Development

how to blog

Regularly?

“ The majority of the Top 100 blogs tracked by Technorati post five or more times per day, and a full 43 percent post more than 10 times per day. Meanwhile, 64 percent of the 5,000 blogs ranked lower than 600 post two to four times a day, which is still a serious commitment.” ( source )

“ Daily posts are a legacy of a Web 1.0 mindset and early Web 2.0 days” ( Eric Kintz )

6 of Kintz’s 10 reasons why frequency doesn’t matter
Traffic is generated by participating in the community
Traffic is irrelevant to your blog’s success anyway
Frequent posting is actually starting to have a negative impact on loyalty
Frequent posting drives poor content quality
Frequent posting threatens the credibility of the blogosphere
Frequent posting will push corporate bloggers into the hands of PR agencies

Comment

Transparency

Community (blogosphere)

White = blog; green = 1 way link; blue = reciprocal
Daily Kos
BoingBoing
LiveJournal
Michelle Malkin
Porn
Sports fans

A hook.

3 broad types?

1. ‘Behind the scenes’ reflections

2. The niche news service

3. The running story

But don’t be afraid to mix it up.

8 of Rohit Bhargava’s 25 basic styles of blogging
Ambition blogging
Detractor blogging
Announcement blogging
Link blogging
Video blogging
Photoblogging
Review blogging
List blogging

Do something now
What kind of blog is yours?
Can you focus it more?
Come up with 3 ideas for others
Discuss your blogging experiences –
what’s worked,
what hasn’t,
where you need to improve
and how

Do more
Rohit Bhargava’s 25 basic styles of blogging
Technorati – State of the Blogosphere 2008
Dan Gillmor – We The Media
See bookmarks at delicious.com/paulb/kiev08

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New approaches to research in a digital age

by Paul Bradshaw

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