Bloggers and Columnists: Lectures vs. Conversations

New to the blogging world and wondering what it’s all about?

Here’s a hint: blogging is like writing a column.  Think of the web as a giant media organization, sort of like a community driven, open source version of the Associated Press that is constantly churning out new content.  Each individual reader composes their own local paper of their favorite sites and blogs that they read regularly (and bookmark or subscribe to).

So really, maintaining a blog is not entirely unlike having your own byline and column in your reader’s newspaper.  Like a columnist, you have a dedicated topic -your niche - that you give your own personal spin.  Bloggers and columnists both have personal brands that they promote, and they usually write in their own voices, in the first person.

You may reply, “but I want to use my blog to market something, not to write a personal column.” Yes, but the basic idea is still the same - your blog is simply an advertorial or advertising column instead of an editorial one.  You are still blogging to promote your brand, just in a more conversational, interactive sense.

But that’s about where the similarities end, because as everyone knows, the web is fundamentally different from other media - it’s dynamic, it’s constantly updated, and it’s much more democratic in the sense that anyone who can get a hold of a computer and an internet connection can participate in the conversation.

If the web is a conversation, traditional media is a collection of lectures.  You can listen and even take notes, but you can’t respond.  This what makes blogging such a powerful new form of marketing - it breaks down the walls and lets businesses speak directly to customers, experts directly to their audience in the form of authority blogs, and allows virtually everyone to promote their personal brand.

The level of reader participation is a big part of what makes blogging different from print publications - readers can comment, other bloggers can link to your posts, and you can instantly respond to questions.  Blogging is dynamic, print is static.  Like the rest of the web, it is also much more community based, as it is important to interact with and link to other bloggers in your niche - to participate in the discussion.