Blogs!!! revisited - Newspapers jump on the train by the boatload

I don't have a photgraphic memory, but who else remembers the BLOGS debates around here a few years ago?

I know A_F (one of my favorite posters) was in the middle of it. Now I find that the So Cal newpapers have a BLOGGER for every pro team.

Has blogging hit the mainstream?

 

Would like to see a link here ... what, are you surprised i was ahead of the curve on this?

Hell, it might be wise for papers that cover the NHL to watch games and blog them for coverage. It's not like the papers are sending resources to the actual games ... (according to other threads)

 

I would say that it pretty much has. One of my favorite blogs is done by Ives Galarcep (Link here). He writes for ESPN as well as the Herald News.

 

I believe you also claimed newspapers would be dead as a result. Funny, many successful BLOGS don't exist without some sort of tie-in to a newspaper or established media organization.

So what's next Nostradamus?

 

Blogs as a communication vehicle are obviously mainstream at this point but, at the same time, all blogs aren't equal. Some have a forum (professional writers, celebrities, people with a depth of knowledge within a particular niche, etc.), but most don't and never will because opinions are best when they are well informed and well communicated. Most of all, you need a readership.

 

I'm not sold on newspaper blogs.

I think the newspapers are thinking "Blogs! The kids love them!" and as a result they think they can reel in the younger demographic. But "kids" love blogs because there are no rules (ever cruised blogspot?).

Newspaper blogs are nothing more than just another piece of written copy - just shorter in length and posted to the web. They may not be edited, but they certainly are not what blogs started out to be or still are.

 

This is why blogs are successful - because people read them at their desk at work in bite-sized pieces. Newspapers, of all entities, should have caught onto the shift in people's reading habits long before. You can't read a newspaper at your desk without the boss knowing. You can read a blog.

That's also why Rivals.com and Scout.com have taken off through the roof.

 

They can be just another piece of written copy. Or they can be used to direct community discussion on a topic.

I don't think a blog that's just a spare notes section is a worthwhile expenditure. If it's a place where readers can discuss stories, ask questions of the writer and of each other, which will enable it to take on a life of its own... then you're on to something.

 

I would think any boss worth a shit would EMBRACE his employee reading a newspaper at his desk instead of a blog.

But maybe I really am a dinosaur.

 

I think he ment, like accountants, execs, etc. People outside of the newspaper biz and are tied to a desk.

 

Yeah, reading while you're supposed to be doing your actual job is frowned on at most places.

 

Haha, I know JR, but it's not like it doesn't happen.