Bloggin'

i know the minneapolis star tribune just started one a few weeks ago. you can find it on the web site. it was so-so but maybe it's gotten better? it was more reaction and commentary than breaking news.

 

One baseball writer I know (and I'm sure someone else here does as well) just got another (better) job and the reason he stood out to his new employers was because of the great job he did with his blog.

I doubt too many employers are all of a sudden going to cough up more pay, of course (although I guess it's something to mention on a yearly review), but I'm also guessing many job descriptions are being rewritten.

When you start having "mandates" like do it two or three times a week, then it becomes a chore. Yes, a blog should be updated frequently to keep reader interest ... but if you make it a chore, that's what it is going to be.

And remember, these aren't 12-15 inch stories ... just get to the point, maybe provide a link, and move on (snappy, creative writing is a plus ).

 

I'm secure in my manhood. Plus when I started it...I had no idea what in the hell I was doing.

 

Another non-sports related blog that kicks ass: http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv

An absolute must-read if you're in the tech industry, and extremely entertaining for those who aren't.

 

There are things about the concept of the blog that you must understand.

1. Beware of unvarnished and unedited ideas making it into a blog and take on lives of their own only to be later proven false. It can be traced back to you.

2. Know your audience. Steinberg's Bog occasionally caters to the ADD/ADHD crowd where he adds onto entries five, six times a day (see the Nick Rimando water-gun assasination game).

3. Don't use it as a Post-It note-clearing device; if you put up five or six different subjects on a blog over the course of a day, and you have nothing the next day, you have a gap. I'd hate to have a gap of any kind.

4. Don't publish an two-paragraph idea which would have made for a great column or enterprise story, only to see some other writer take the idea and run with it (that has happened to me).

5. Don't allow the blog to take over your life without asking the newspaper to compensate you for it. That goes for vodcasts, podcasts, and other new media.

6. Don't use it as a newspaper marketing tool: "Make sure to read the Friday edition of The Blab for my exclusive interview with Paris Hilton's underwear designer and his thoughts on the paparazzi's threats to democracy!"

7. In other words, although some blogs out there are "stream of consciousness" diaries written by people willing to put details of their lives "out there" (see: Washingtonienne), others have just become compilations of what other people said (see: RedState or Free Republic) rather than just rational thought.

8. Keep your audience wanting more and be authoritative. I am finishing up a 15-part series on why the National Federation of State High School Associations should not mandate eyewear on field hockey players. Just little bits of the argument every day rather than one magnum opus.

9. Blogs are now so diffuse that you can't really talk about a "blogosphere" anymore; there are little groups here and there, often starting with political orientation or location. A liberal blogger in Washington, DC, for example, won't give a rip about an Allen Iverson blog in Denver.

 

FNF - thanks for that link. Good stuff.

 

One of our best blogs basically publishes his notebook for tommorrow's paper throught the day on his blog. There are other randoms tidbits on there, but most of the juicy stuff is what makes up his notebook the next day in the paper. People love it.

 

Tried to get the Internet folk to get me one up and running by August so I could do it during the college football season (I am sports editor and beat writer for our town's DI team). They dragged their feet so I started my own.

Here is is http://grammerschool.blogspot.com

I'm at a 25,000 circ. for perspective sake. It is starting to outdraw our features section each week in hits. The hits really started getting up there when I a) realized just posting on a regular basis, even when not all that interesting are a must and b) started keeping up with replying in the comments section. The interaction (not just a blogger posting) is a pretty important part, in my opinion.

I used to think the posts needed to be LOOONG... they don't. And I used to think I needed to have a great idea for every post. I don't.

 

What's wrong with cross-promoting stories coming up in print?