Blogging about Blogs

The subject of this week's Online Journalism lecture was 'Blogging: Reporting in the Web 2.0 Era'. Quite appropriate considering the medium has just been declared dead by some commentators.

The guest lecturer was Adam Tinworth, Head of Blogging at RBI, who gave us an insight into how publishing companies are adapting their business models to fit the modern shape of their industry.

Many of the criticisms of the current state of blogging come from 'amateur' bloggers, who feel they're being sidelined by pro's who supplement their articles in printed publications with blogs. Hearing how Adam trains staff at RBI to blog gave us a different perspective on this arguement, with very contrasting conclusions...

Adam began by emphasising the importance of engagement, or being part of a conversation, pointing out that being on the web is not the same as being part of the web. It's meant he's had to encourage his writers to shift their mentality, from simply writing articles they now have to engage thier audience in a conversation.

The amount of money that major publishers are putting into blogging indicates that they don't believe the format is dead...if anything the opposite. However the resources of major publishers will doubtless make it difficult for bedroom bloggers to compete.

But that doesn't mean they should give up. Adam's definition of the qualities of a good blogger requires them to be:

• Inquisitive


• Communicative


• Honest


• Enthusiastic


• Social


• Informed

None of these qualities are exclusive to professional journalists (in fact some might argue that many journalists are completely devoid of one or two of these qualities!) so there's a lot of room for 'amateurs' to prove themselves by writing about subjects they are able to be enthusiastic about, in a well informed, honest way.

Proof of this is FlightBlogger, aka John Ostrower, who set up a blog about the aviation industry. At just 21, his knowledge, enthusiasm and contacts meant he was often breaking news before the professionals. As a result RBI signed him up and he's now one of their most popular bloggers.

Conclusions I draw from this are that while the proliferation of blogging means that the medium may have become over-saturated, and companies with huge amounts of resources have encroached on the 'citizen journalist's forum', quality will shine through and can still provide an outlet for amateurs with the skill, and desire, to succeed.