I blog, I love to blog – I love to share my personal experiences, thoughts and beliefs with you. I think blogging is one of the most important movements in the new world order. Yes, there is a new world order, more and more people are reading blogs and less people are reading printed newspapers! In turn more newspapers are offering their articles online for free. Good idea! However, it’s blogging in the blogosphere which has caught the world by storm and I mean bloggers who are just writing about what they personally care about, not necessarily about what they are being paid to write or being asked to write. Many blogs have more readership than many traditional newspapers. Why? I think one word can sum it up:
Influence.
When something is written on a blog by someone paid or asked to write, there is influence, or perceived influence, from someone else. Newspapers are influenced by bosses, editors and strategies. Personal blogs on the other hand are influenced, for the most part, by an individual’s raw personal opinion. And that’s what readers want! I am a blog reader, not just a blog writer. I write about what I believe in, what I feel – I allow my emotions to play a part and I share information which is unique, because, hey, my thoughts are mine and come from the way my mind works and considers things. As readers we like to read other opinions because we might be looking for someone to have a common connection with, or, someone to disagree with. It’s very difficult to get that from a traditional newspaper or from someone writing for someone else, because, at that point you really don’t know if what you are reading is really that person’s personal opinion or just reaching a target audience with what that audience wants to hear, or, what someone else has influenced the writer to write.
I have countless emails from online sites asking me to blog for them. Thus far I have turned them all down or I haven’t replied. The reason I have not accepted any of those offers is simply because I do not want to come across as influenced by that site. However, I have posted blogs on sites which are open and are basically social networking sites, such as www.adderworld.ning.com . There is a perceived difference and that difference is very important. Blogging on social networks sites is still considered individual opinions which are only influenced by topics and sometimes not even that.
My advice to news sites paying bloggers, if the opinion really is only the opinion of the blog writer make that openly, abundantly clear in a good beneficial way, not simply as a disclaimer – few people actually read the disclaimers anyway. Traditional newspapers are going away, faster than anyone could have predicted only a decade ago. It’s not just because of the internet where news is abundantly available, it’s also because of the blogosphere! This blog alone has more readership than many traditional newspapers! Just my personal thoughts on this, my opinion, which could be wrong (doubt it), but then again, that’s what real blogging is about, isn’t it?
By the way, join us on www.ADDerWorld.ning.com a social networking ADHD community, with personalized Web-Page for each member, forums, picture posting, RSS feeds, BLOGS (over 400 postings already – individual opinions, experiences and ideas from the members), videos and much more.
Bryan
