Bloggers vs. Journalists

This recent article from the Guardian suggests that journalists should learn lessons from bloggers, and adapt.

While I agree with the author’s assertion that journalists should be less suspicious of bloggers and their work, I don’t agree that "there is no perfect example of journalists and bloggers working in harmony". Surely bloggers and journalists are working in harmony all the time? Journalists write articles which appear in news outlets, and then bloggers discuss them. It seems like a happy union to me.

For a business that is blogging, or considering blogging as a way to increase the life around their website, the important point to take from this article is the reminder that blogging is a conversation . To quote Adam Tinworth :

"Most media people don’t realise that blogging is a community strategy. They think of it as a publishing process… They certainly don’t think of it as a conversation."

You’ll have much greater success as a blogger if you invite discussion, allow comments and refer to other bloggers. Although, if you prefer, you’re quite welcome to sit and talk to yourself .

(Lego Blogger picture courtesy of minifig )