Blog thought for the day

I was talking with an old friend today about traditional media’s use of blogs and I offered this observation: too often media use blogs as new wrapping for traditional story types: opinion columns, news briefs, and even news stories. 

News flash: wrapping traditional story types in RSS enclosures does not equal blogging. I’d call that RSS slip-streaming, rather than the objective most bloggers share – contributing meaningfully to conversations that travel via RSS.

It’s easy to see how some media got to this false end point. The multi-comment model is (in part) a greatly enhanced version of the communication model typically found in newspapers and magazines over the decades: journalist writes a story, reader sends letter to newspaper, editor selects letter (maybe), letter is published. End of story.

The better way forward is to post an opinion or observation, expect a response via comments or trackback, and contribute to the discussion that follows. The conversations started in that context often carry on not just between the original participants but anyone else who overheard the conversation while hanging out in the global bar that is the Internet.

Sorry call your bluff media folk, but if you’re not blogging with that intent, you’re not really blogging.