Misunderstanding. When one mentions the word blogger and blog what do you understand? What does that mean? In its most purest definition a blogger is a person who is the writer and oftentimes owner of a blog. This seems simple.
So why is it hard to pin down a blogger? Why do some companies and individuals have a hard time with bloggers? Why is there a love-hate relationship between bloggers and journalists? Do bloggers really like to become journalists. Or is it something else?
When one says a blogger what comes to mind?
A lot of things really and this is because bloggers are a lot of things really. Bloggers came in all sorts. And often the stereotyping of the blogger as a techie or an opinion writer is a critical mistake when approaching a blogger or becoming one.
SOME DEFINITION OF TERMS BEFORE WE PROCEED
BLOG: An on-line website or more specifically a conten management system or an on-line publishing platform that enables an individual, a blogger, to publish articles in a reverse chronological order.
BLOGGER: A person who writes for a blog. Often the blogger is also the publisher of the blog. A blog may have more than one blogger as such this is called a group blog.
POST: An article or material published in the blog. Post here is often used to refer to the article itself or the act of publishing the article or posting.
I. BUT WHAT ARE BLOGGERS?
1. Based on what they write about and what form it takes, blogs and bloggers can be described as:
1.1. Diarist/Journal Writer
This blogger is concerned with writing down his actions and thought on a blog. This may include day to day activities or highlights. It may also contain posts or entries that include photos, videos and audio files.
Aside from day to day musings the diarist can and will also write about anything … from a personal point of view. This is probably the quinsential blogger. The blogger that everyone knows and probably starts out as one. And up to this time this probably the largest and biggest blogger group.
A number of these blogs are also private - meaning only friends and those the bloggers are at ease and who they trust can read this blog. Although there are diarists and journal writers who open their blogs to the public it is important to remember that they consider themselves on-line diarists or bloggers.
1.2. Opinion Writer
There are blogs and blogger who focus primarily their writing or posts on commentary and analysis. The focus may be on national or local issues. It may even focus on a specific industry or pastime. It may even focus on specific hobby. What differentiates it from the other blogs is that it primarily publishes or posts commentary articles.
In a sense these are online pundits or columnists. Opinion makers who by the virtue of blogs and the Internet have found a platform or pulpit to expound and syndicate their opinion.
These types of blogs are often seen to enhnace and even supplement reading lists of online readers. An addition to commentary read, heard and seen in media.
1.3. Specialist/Experts/Prosumer/Hobbyist
These are subject focused blogs that are written and published by bloggers. These are also called niche blogs: Implying that they are focused … subject focused. Technology and travel blogs fall in this lot.
And the number of different topics that this can cover is almost unlimited. From computers, cellphones, food, travel and even stamp collecting. If there is an interest on any particular topic then there is and there will probably a blog about this.
1.4. Video Blogger/Podcaster/photoblog
A blog whose posts are made of video and audio files. This different from the previous blogs because they are seperated because of format rather than form or genre. So as you can imagine. The topics or genre that can be covered by these blogs are as varied as the other blogs.
So you can see a video blog diary style, A podcast about literature or politics, a pictureessay on a photoblog.
2. Bloggers also differ Based on their Goal:
2.1. Personal:
Some have as their goal as just to publish their post - whether it be the wriitem, word, sound, image, moving images or a combination of these elements - on-line to a select number of people or to the general public. And there are a number who would just like to publish their posts for their person - no one else will read those posts.
For these bloggers money is not a concern but the idea of posting their thoughts in text, image, sound and moving images is important.
2.2. Revenue:
Some have as their goal to make money. Some place ads and use a number of advertorial schemes on their blogs. Some work for blog networks - a network of blogs owned by a company that hires bloggers to write for them. And then there are some who work as consultants or blog trainors.
2.3. New Media/On-line Media/Media/
Some publish their post in order for the world to see. More often these blogs and their bloggers consider themselves part of media. In a sense they mirror the topics and niches that are already found in media. A number of bloggers cover technology; beauty & fashion; entertainment & pop culture; food & beverage; politics; and a host of other things.
The posts, blogs and bloggers may range from chroniclers/reporters to writers who dabble in commentary and analysis.
In effect this is on-line media.
II. TAKE NOTE: Not everything is distinct
It should be considered though that although there are blogs and bloggers that can be distinctively classified into three types depending on goal or four in the case of form, there are also blogs and bloggers that exsist in a mix format. There are blogs that exsist for the purpose of revenue and media. As there are blogs that exsist for the reason of personal and media. In terms of forms there are blogs that are personal chronicles in video,audio and image.
The combination is nearly endless.
What is important though is for anyone who is going to be part of the blogging community and who would visit it often is to understand that one cannot just stereotype bloggers or pigeon hole them.
