A different blog issue

In August, I started my own blog on blogspot.com after asking since spring football to get one up and running by the start of the college football season. When the internet folks didn't come through, I started my own and it is now out producing (in page views) the features and business sections on my paper's Web site.

My editors are well aware of my blog and I do plenty of cross-promoting. What I blog about is often pretty close to what I'm writing about so I often link to our own paper and it tends to drive up hits for both.

I think whether many want to admit it or not, blogging and other internet reader interaction is a necessary evolution in the business (this coming from a 28 year old newbie). Embracing it as soon as possible and trying to do it the right way would be the best thing we can do. The ugly side of blogging is lazy, anonymous journalism. The good side can be a great asset to the print and online product, which I would think we all agree is an asset to our proffession.

I can tell you this, though, it is a lot more work to do a blog successfully than most would think. You need multiple posts a day and offer up something not in print to make readers include you in their daily surfing schedule. If you post just once or twice a week, there is no reason for a reader to make you a regular part of his Web routine.

Just my ignorant $.02.

 

Just because "henry" is posting under an anonymous name on SportsJournalists.com doesn't make it ironic, Ace. I assume Henry is not trying to impress people or make a name for himself or bring in additional revenue by posting here.

 

thank you angola. i couldn't have said it better.

 

I'll say it more bluntly. You're an ftard, henri. The only blog you could maintain would be one about yourself, both fists 3/4 closed, working in synch, as you fantasize about the Chronicle.

 

You ought to be going to your bosses with the idea, not the other way around. Blogging is just another way to get what's in your brain (and your reporters' brains) out into the public without waiting for the presses to start.

Probably not. I've been blogging (for work, yes) for two years, and I'm nowhere near mastering it, and I'm usually awake when I post. The fact that you write for a living probably makes you a better writer than a lot of bloggers. But do you have something to say? Can you add to the discussion? Can you provoke some sort of reaction? It's not as easy as it looks.

If you're curious about how blogging works, go to blogger or blogspot or myspace (shudder) and start one. But check with your bosses for possible conflict issues. I'm lucky because my paper is big into blogging, and a couple of the reporters have personal blogs that management (a) knows about and (b) is fine with. Your mileage may vary, especially if you're writing about the topics covered by your day job.

 

dyepack, you have mastered the art of sounding clever and witty and arch without actually making sense. all of your name-calling - your whole cute vocabulary of ftard and other piercing ripostes - obscure your hollow intellectual core behind a mask of bravado. i don't think you actually stand for anything or believe in anything other than needling other posters. if that's how you get your kicks, more power to you. but you never actually make sense or contribute a cogent idea. i hate getting personal on these things, but hey, that's all you seem to want to do. you simply can't discuss an issue without making it personal. i have no doubt you are a lonely embittered person who has fucked up his personal life to a fair-thee-well.

 

Shoot, it has layers of irony like an onion because "henry" is anonymously posting (however coinidentally) under the name of a well-known journalist.

 

Thanks for the kind words, Chris.

As for Henry, I'm sorry you don't like the anon thing. But having a full-time job in the media and writing a blog that occasionally skewers the media would not go over well. I'd be fired and out of a job.

I do enjoy your blog (i can only assume you blog at sportsmediaguide.com since you link to every new story they post), and one day soon, hopefully TBL will generate enough income to make it a full-time gig.

 

flattered you think so - wish it was mine. if it was i wouldn't hide behind a cover - no reason to - since sportsmediaguide doesn't do snark.

so you work in the media and you're afraid of losing your job - are you skewering people you talk to face-to-face without them knowing? are you using information you gather in your real identity and turning it against people?
and if your blog becomes self-supporting will you come out of the closet?

hey, to each his own. i've got nothing left to say on this - do your thing and live with it.

 

Looks like I'm already ahead of you, Henri.

 

Just for posterity.

Henry, wish I could find that standing ovation thing for you right now.

Word is that his professional life is no bowl of cherries, either.

 

Yeah, I'd say that pretty much sums him up.