I was pleased to read Simon Dumenco’s piece on blogging in Ad Age today. He says there’s no such thing as a blog.
It occurred to me that there is no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger. Blogging is just writing — writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology. Even though I tend to first use Microsoft Word on the way to being published, I am not, say, a Worder or Wordder.
Its just software, people! The underlying creative/media function remains exactly the same.
Steve Hall of Adrants was also pleased to see this article, and I’m sure Shawn–our publisher–was too, for they’ve both taken this position before.
While it’s true that we do some things differently than traditional media, we might just as easily be called online trade rags.
No blog features can make up for good writing skills!
Here’s an online ballot for you to vote for your 10 favorite Super Bowl ads of all-time:
http://www.baileylauerman.com/superbowlads
Gee, thanks Mike. You know, because The Super Bowl has so much to do with this post. Next time, send us an email.
Why yes, I was rather pleased to see Simon’s article.
Rob – you are spot on.
A year ago, my take on the ‘blog’ phenomenon for those involved in ‘blogging,’ could be labeled as the minority viewpoint. In fact David and I debated many a time over what it really was that we were getting into. While sometimes heated discussion ensued via email, I can’t claim to be the winner of any of our debates as we often argued the same side with different terminology.
But, what has really surprised me is the direction traditional media has taken with blogs. A year ago, my brother, a sportswriter in a Top-50 market, would shrug off any attempts by me to get him to write online. Over the course of the last 3 months his tune has changed 180 degrees, now writing a blog for his paper at his request.
When I asked him what changed his mind, his response was “I’m in industry that hasn’t changed since the printing press was invented. Now, I often can’t recognize my industry when I get back from lunch; and usually, those changes are simply an attempt at postponing obsolecense.”
A blogger is not just a writer. A blogger is just a writer who publishes on the internet. 😉
I am not a blogger, I am a meat popsicle 🙂
Writing = One to many.
Blogging (assuming comments, permalink, etc.) = One to few. Few to few.
Then . . . one to more. Few to more.
Then . . . one to many. Few to many.
Then . . . (fill in the blank)!