The rise of the citizen journalist: blogging 101

By Lizzy Scully
This is the second of a three-part series...

So what is a blog anyway? Literally it’s a “web log”—aka a website on which individuals or sometimes groups of people publish written, photographed, or filmed “posts,” including personal stories, political rants, product raves, news exposes, etc. Blogs are created, managed, and regularly updated primarily by individuals. And most are unedited by third parties, which makes them significantly different from printed newspapers and magazines, in which content is edited numerous times before publication. Blogs can exclusively represent a person, or as with this Alumni & Friends blog, they can offer readers a more in-depth and often personal look at what an organization is doing.

No one knows exactly how many blogs exist now (to see various statistics, click here), but as far as Metro State Assistant Professor of Journalism Kip Wotkyns is concerned, the "blogosphere" is a phenomenon that has transformed the way news is disseminated and has encouraged the rise of the citizen journalist.

“Blogging allows people to be published basically with a click of a button. To have a voice in the past you had to get published. But blogging is available to anyone, and the blogosphere is now gigantic in scope.” Subsequently, traditional publications have lost much of their influence, garnering less advertising and fewer readers. People now turn to blogs for information. Take the Mumbai Massacre, cites Wotkyns. “A lot of the best reporting was actually coming from a hostage inside the Palace Hotel who was tweeting in real time and was picked up by millions of people.” (A tweet is a “post” on the micro-blog Twitter).

Unfortunately, Wotkyns warns, the blogosphere isn’t always a positive space. A lack of regulation allows people to unethically use blogs. Companies sometimes pay bloggers to rave about their products, while other business owners anonymously trash competitors in reviews. As well, “clutter” has become a problem, with people regurgitating information and/or spewing out inaccurate, unsubstantiated opinions in the form of rants.

“The era of the citizen journalist will only emerge if blogging moves beyond this rant and rave stage,” he says.

Still, blogs can be an effective way to disseminate news. “What will be precious in the end is balanced accurate information that’s original,” Wotkyns says. “Original content will become the coin of the realm. Those blogs will do fine and prosper.” And that is why blogs created and maintained by people such as Metro State alum and photographer Jeff Ball have the potential to rise above the clutter.

Ball’s blog is chock full of original photos and commentary on art and photography, and, along with his other social media platforms, has become a hub of community activity. Ball has build trust with his readers and what Watkins calls “brand equity.” He has made himself an “expert” on the subject of photography. Subsequently, his blog has helped him establish a stronger presence on the web, which drove traffic to his website and helped him fundraise, make more direct sales, collaborate with other artists, and engage with fans.

“With more and more people online searching for information and making connections through social networking sites, a blog is a great forum for self-promotion and self-expression,” Ball says. “It’s a truly versatile tool.”

See next month’s Enewsletter for the third of this three-part social media series is titled, “Creating Google Juice: How to Get Your Message Out.”