Sunday, January 27, 2008

Three Dirty Little Blogging Secrets



Graphic =http://www.gapingvoid.com/.

Thank you Hugh, as always for the inspiration and more.

Since visiting blogs, listening and learning from bloggers, and finding my way around social media for the past year and half, I have trouble with three precepts of this "new medium" that you sometimes hear about. I think its fair to set the record straight on a couple matters, at least from my experience and percpetions. They are:



1. The blogger is Not a "citizen journalist" nor does a bloggers' "power" authority or importance arise from that premise

In most situations, bloggers are not journalists. Bloggers are speaking (writing, podcasting, vloging etc) from their heart. Its the old saying in its truest form "perception is reality." Bloggers are real people sharing their personal perceptions and that is their reality. Its why blogging and bloggers are so powerful. No filter, no "fairness." Blogging is people and their naked realities. Those naked conversations are based on how I think, feel and believe.


Journalists attempt to tell stories and glean what the "truth" may be through fair-minded and "objective" reporting. There are some exceptions, of course: a) bloggers who are the closest some countries have to free press, where the state represses freedom of the press; and b)
some of the "a-list" publishers (Engagdet, Federated Media, etc) or bloggers who are actually closer to online freelance journalists, commentators than a personal blogger. Here are some links with more food for thought:
http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2008/01/new-thoughts-on.html

http://www.shaicoggins.com/index.php/weblog/why-im-so-bloody-boring-and-other-excuses/

http://mediabullseye.com/mb/2008/01/the-bloggers-double-standard.html

http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2007/12/congratulations-new-rising-voi.html

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/

2. "Lose Control" ? How about Participate. These are different Issues and have different ramifications.

For businesses entering social media and getting involved, it is often suggested you have to understand you have no control. I call this the fear factor....oh my god "lose control" = fear. Im not making an argument about the degree to which companies may or may not control their brand....but anyone curious about this field ought to understand this: participation is very different to losing control. Participation = involvement, it is not rooted in fear. It also leads to different results than "losing control" and fear. Do you act because you are afraid or because you want to participate and "join in"?

3. The "blogging" world is not "fair" (see 1); Its a wild Mob. Wrong, It's a Generous World

I have personally found bloggers of all stripes, once you prove you are serious, genuine and listening (earn your stripes so to speak) to be findamentally generous.

As I mentioned in one of my first posts and in the recent Toronto presentations, the conversations are ultimately "give and take." If you are willing to listen and learn, then you will find people on Twitter, Facebook, in the blogs and elsewhere who connect with you and share. That is an important word, SHARE.

I have learned from so many who have been willing to point me in various directions...it is amazing. This is no angry mob....or some ill-informed populace. It is world filled with great people who are fundamentally generous and willing to help you individually, or as a business, understand and gain even better and more important new insights. Likely more than you can appreciate until you dive in.

So what holds you back from diving in?




2 comments:

Geoff_Livingston said...

Rule #4: Bloggers practice kindergarten justice. "He's bad, kill him with negative Google juice!"

Anonymous said...

Interesting points. I'm not sure about all the bloggers vs journalists arguments. I've never really gotten in to that debate. Never bothered me too much, even though I am a published writer and was in 'traditional media' before getting in to blogging (and even during).

To me, it really depends on what kind of blogging you do, etc. And how you interpret "citizen journalist" and such terms.

Anyway, thanks for the link and sharing your thoughts on the matter.