Blogging news stories as they unfold is one of the most
exciting and controversial applications of technology
that bloggers have discovered. One thing that makes the
blogosphere so active is the fact that it is possible to
update a blog instantaneously, so the news on blogs
tends to be more current than the news in the paper, or
on television. Unlike news delivered by these other
media, news that appears on blogs does not have to
travel through a series of editors and administrators
before it reaches the public eye. This has some
advantages, and some distinct disadvantages.
One of the most notable cases of news hitting a blog
before appearing in other media took place in July 2005
when terrorism struck London. As passengers were
evacuated from a subway car near an explosion, one
man took several photographs of the scene with his
cellular phone, and within an hour these images were
posted online. First-person accounts of the catastrophe
began appearing on blogs soon after these photos
appeared, and people all over the world learned about
the events in London by reading the words and seeing
the photos posted by bloggers.
The fact that these stories and images were being spread
directly by individuals operating without the added
filter of a reporter helped to make the crisis feel very
immediate to people across the globe. When it comes to
blogging, news often appears in a very personal context.
This has the potential to be the beginning of an exciting
new era of reporting, one that takes “New Journalism”
to it’s logical next step by putting the power to shape
how the news is written and read directly into the hands
of the public.
Many bloggers and cultural commentators who are champions
of the weblog movement feel that this growing trend of ind-
ividuals who are getting their news from blogs is a good thing, because it makes the flow of information more democratic. By decentralizing the control of news, blogs allow more voices to enter the field of debate about important current events.
However, many people are adamantly opposed to the use of
blogs as news outlets, and there are plenty of good arguments
on this side of the debate. Unlike newspapers or tv stations,
few blogs have fact-checkers, and there is little attention paid
to journalistic accountability on many blogs. This can lead to
the rapid spread of misinformation, and more than one false
report has taken the blogosphere by storm. The questions
about whether blogging news as it happens is ethical or not
are very complicated, but no matter where you stand on the
topic of current events blogs you are almost sure to agree
that this movement has the potential to revolutionize how
modern people get their news.
Blogging for Profit Begins With a Long Term Plan
Many people dream of blogging for profit, and this goal is not far beyond the reach of someone with average intelligence, a willingness to work hard, and a basic grasp of blogging tech. However, very few people manage to reap the profits they want from their own blogs. Most people who attempt to make money with their blogs do not succeed for two reasons.
Often, bloggers have unrealistic expectations of how fast their
readership will grow and how much money they will make, and when these expectations are not met the disappointment can crush the desire to continue blogging. The other trap that many bloggers fall into has to do with lack of planning. If you want to turn a profit as a blogger, the key to success is to make a real
life plan and stick with it.
To succeed at blogging for profit, the main thing that you will
need is a large readership. The higher your traffic, the more advertisers will agree to pay you.
However, cultivating the regular visitors that you will need in
order to make a profit isn’t easy. As more and more blogs
each day, having a great idea or a wonderful writing style is
no longer enough to get attention. You need to be able to
market your blog effectively.
Too many bloggers spend all of their time writing posts and
almost no time marketing their project. To be certain, updating
as often as you can is a great way to keep your blog high on
blogrolls and high in blog search engines like technorati,
and once your readers know that you update frequently they
will return to your site on a regular basis.
However, it does not matter how often you update if nobody
is reading your page, so don’t skimp on the time that you
spend drawing visitors to your site. To make your dreams
of blogging for profit a reality, try decreasing your number
of posts and using some of that time to draw new visitors
by setting up link exchanges with other bloggers, making
contacts in the blog community, and following other
established modes of winning traffic.
Of course, even if you are a marketing genius or have a really
great idea for a blog, success is not going to happen overnight.
Building the kind of readership that blogging for profit requires
takes a lot of time, and in all likelihood it will be at least several
months before you are able to turn much of a profit. Try to stay
committed to your blogging project during this initial rough
period. To stay motivated, set goals for how often you will update and how many readers you want to attract, and then reward yourself for sticking with your plan.