if you were talking to college students this afternoon about politics and new media, specifically blogs? Pearls of wisdom from the BMG community are welcome, as always!
are you trying to get us to do your assignment? đŸ˜‰
laurelsays
with one’s true identity on political blogs.
afertigsays
Here’s a few things off the top of my head. I imagine you’ll pick and choose as you deem appropriate.
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p>
Blogs are what you make them. No doubt that there’s a lot of crap “out there” there but blogs can be a good alternative media source. And most times, the discussions are just plain better than what you’ll get in the MSM. If you don’t like the quality of discourse on a given blog, stop reading it. Or start your own. There’s almost infinite competition, anway.
Blogs are limited, just like any other medium. I think of what I find on blogs as a really good supplement to my intake of media, and oftentimes they’re at the foundation of what I’ll know about a given topic. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other, better sources out there. The same goes for the old media.
On new media like YouTube, content is not king. On new media like blogs, it should be.
Get to know a community before you make sweeping generalizations about it. Not all blogging communities are the same, I would daresay none are. Just because we’ve got “blue” in the name doesn’t mean that we don’t a few Republicans here.
The era of the popular individual blog is almost over. Sure, there are a few blogging personalities who blog on their own. But by and large, if a blog is at all popular, there are multiple (and generally, a lot) of authors. You can’t do it on your own. As big as Kos is, he’s big because of the community. As big as MyDD or OpenLeft, or FiredogLake or BMG or whatever other blog I can think of off the top of my head, there are other writers.
Don’t forget the long-tail. As few readers as you might have, don’t forget that it might be really important to two people.
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p>Okay, I’m done procrastinating on other things…
afertigsays
I meant that even if you have the most unpopular blog out there with a readership of just 1 or 2 people, your blog might be more important than you think to those two people. And there are probably more people out there like that than people who read the most popular blogs.
I recently was a panelist at a major Boston University with a major newspaper columnist on the subject of politics (consider that as casually said…).
<
p>Early on, I mention blogs, and noticed that my fellow panelists looked puzzled, and the students looked interested. My newspaper fellow panelist shrugged and said, “Well, I READ BMG…” but it seemed you are still not regarded as credible sources, despite the stories you’ve broken.
<
p>So I would say this – Citizen Journalism is the future – be it the HuffPo blogger who started BitterGate, the video of McCain shot from behind as he sang ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran..”, or the Herald reporter chasing Petro through the hallways of the previously sacrosanct State House with a camera to post on YouTube (I realize Wedge is a pro, but how many blogs have linked to his video?). There are no more ‘safe venues’. Politicians aren’t used to this and don’t like it much. And the abuse is horrendous – there are too many slice ‘n dice cyberpundits out there, posting partial quotes and edited video. So the wise pol will ALWAYS have his OWN recording device in the future, to demonstrate context (unless you’re just fleeing in the halls like an SNL skit).
<
p>EVERY candidate, EVERY cause should have a blog – and a Facebook page, too. Blogs are outstanding, as I told the students, because NOW you don’t have to rely on newspapers to get what you want to say out there – I don’t care in you’re running for school committee. Post the FULL TEXT of every press release on your blog, so editors can’t pick and choose.
<
p>BUT – as M$M likes to stress, with power comes responsibility. The fastest crack, the cheapest shot – and contextual anomalies – are abuse of that power. And Karma is a bitch, even if you think you got away with it.
It’s important people know that blogs are whatever people make them. If someone wants to blog and have it be successful, they need to write about a subject that not many others are writing about. A great example is the Hospital Blog… there was nothing filling that niche and now it’s a well respected, fairly national blog. Also, people shouldn’t buy into the media interpretation of what a blog is… it’s not Anderson Cooper writing a few stupid comments during a commercial break, and it’s not a 23 year old college grad typing away in his mother’s basement (I’m 24 now, dammit!). The average blogger and reader of blogs is mid 40s and upper middle class. In other words, bloggers are regular people with specific experience interested in filling in the gaps today’s mainstream and local medias are ignoring for numberous reasons – from cost cutting to their focus on particular kinds of stories (if it bleeds, it leads extends way beyond the tangible kind of blood).
… it’s not Anderson Cooper writing a few stupid comments during a commercial break, and it’s not a 23 year old college grad typing away in his mother’s basement
<
p>are these statements not contradictory?
<
p>did you mean to say it’s not just Anderson Cooper and a 23-year old?
<
p>later in your comment you seem to set certain qualifiers for blogs, including limiting to “regular” people.
<
p>I’m not sure what kind of value you put on different blogs. Do you think Anderson Cooper is incapable of blogging effectively or that he just does it poorly currenlty, for example?
He’s being cute and playing with that “new media” toy. There are lots of professional journalists who DO blog and are very good at it. Lots of people who aren’t anywhere regular also blog (from Charlie Baker to Rosie O’Donnel). Anderson Cooper could be one of those people too, but over all I find his “oh, I’m going to write a sentence on air right now and you all respond and we’ll call it a blog” crap insulting. Writing them off air, about real issues, using links and delivering something new would be a blog.
With the advent of blogs, more people than ever will read your written word. Great ideas will be missed and dismissed if written poorly.
<
p>The skills of writing well (running spellcheck, avoiding txt shorthand, and using the conventions of English grammar) and learning to develop clear, efficient, and sophisticated argumentation can now be capitalized on by a wider number of people than ever before. Don’t slag off in your English and humanities classes just because you plan on being an electrical engineer and think these skills will never be useful.
<
p>And don’t post crazy facebook photos under your real name if you expect to have a real job or political career someday.
If a blog is unreadable, it won’t be read. But you don’t have to put the same preparation into writing a blog that you would, for example, a 20 page thesis – even when you take the different scales of the project into account. You don’t have to be an amazing writer either. Basically, any blogger should a) use spell checker, b) not use shorthand and c) read each blog out loud (to make sure it makes sense) before posting.
are you trying to get us to do your assignment? đŸ˜‰
with one’s true identity on political blogs.
Here’s a few things off the top of my head. I imagine you’ll pick and choose as you deem appropriate.
<
p>
<
p>Okay, I’m done procrastinating on other things…
I meant that even if you have the most unpopular blog out there with a readership of just 1 or 2 people, your blog might be more important than you think to those two people. And there are probably more people out there like that than people who read the most popular blogs.
I recently was a panelist at a major Boston University with a major newspaper columnist on the subject of politics (consider that as casually said…).
<
p>Early on, I mention blogs, and noticed that my fellow panelists looked puzzled, and the students looked interested. My newspaper fellow panelist shrugged and said, “Well, I READ BMG…” but it seemed you are still not regarded as credible sources, despite the stories you’ve broken.
<
p>So I would say this – Citizen Journalism is the future – be it the HuffPo blogger who started BitterGate, the video of McCain shot from behind as he sang ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran..”, or the Herald reporter chasing Petro through the hallways of the previously sacrosanct State House with a camera to post on YouTube (I realize Wedge is a pro, but how many blogs have linked to his video?). There are no more ‘safe venues’. Politicians aren’t used to this and don’t like it much. And the abuse is horrendous – there are too many slice ‘n dice cyberpundits out there, posting partial quotes and edited video. So the wise pol will ALWAYS have his OWN recording device in the future, to demonstrate context (unless you’re just fleeing in the halls like an SNL skit).
<
p>EVERY candidate, EVERY cause should have a blog – and a Facebook page, too. Blogs are outstanding, as I told the students, because NOW you don’t have to rely on newspapers to get what you want to say out there – I don’t care in you’re running for school committee. Post the FULL TEXT of every press release on your blog, so editors can’t pick and choose.
<
p>BUT – as M$M likes to stress, with power comes responsibility. The fastest crack, the cheapest shot – and contextual anomalies – are abuse of that power. And Karma is a bitch, even if you think you got away with it.
It’s important people know that blogs are whatever people make them. If someone wants to blog and have it be successful, they need to write about a subject that not many others are writing about. A great example is the Hospital Blog… there was nothing filling that niche and now it’s a well respected, fairly national blog. Also, people shouldn’t buy into the media interpretation of what a blog is… it’s not Anderson Cooper writing a few stupid comments during a commercial break, and it’s not a 23 year old college grad typing away in his mother’s basement (I’m 24 now, dammit!). The average blogger and reader of blogs is mid 40s and upper middle class. In other words, bloggers are regular people with specific experience interested in filling in the gaps today’s mainstream and local medias are ignoring for numberous reasons – from cost cutting to their focus on particular kinds of stories (if it bleeds, it leads extends way beyond the tangible kind of blood).
<
p>
<
p>are these statements not contradictory?
<
p>did you mean to say it’s not just Anderson Cooper and a 23-year old?
<
p>later in your comment you seem to set certain qualifiers for blogs, including limiting to “regular” people.
<
p>I’m not sure what kind of value you put on different blogs. Do you think Anderson Cooper is incapable of blogging effectively or that he just does it poorly currenlty, for example?
He’s being cute and playing with that “new media” toy. There are lots of professional journalists who DO blog and are very good at it. Lots of people who aren’t anywhere regular also blog (from Charlie Baker to Rosie O’Donnel). Anderson Cooper could be one of those people too, but over all I find his “oh, I’m going to write a sentence on air right now and you all respond and we’ll call it a blog” crap insulting. Writing them off air, about real issues, using links and delivering something new would be a blog.
oops.
With the advent of blogs, more people than ever will read your written word. Great ideas will be missed and dismissed if written poorly.
<
p>The skills of writing well (running spellcheck, avoiding txt shorthand, and using the conventions of English grammar) and learning to develop clear, efficient, and sophisticated argumentation can now be capitalized on by a wider number of people than ever before. Don’t slag off in your English and humanities classes just because you plan on being an electrical engineer and think these skills will never be useful.
<
p>And don’t post crazy facebook photos under your real name if you expect to have a real job or political career someday.
If a blog is unreadable, it won’t be read. But you don’t have to put the same preparation into writing a blog that you would, for example, a 20 page thesis – even when you take the different scales of the project into account. You don’t have to be an amazing writer either. Basically, any blogger should a) use spell checker, b) not use shorthand and c) read each blog out loud (to make sure it makes sense) before posting.
How did it go? What were students’ major ideas, concerns, interests, and pockets of ignorance (if any)?