I had my first meeting with someone today who was overjoyed that they were hiring a blogger to write for them. The woman was positively giddy with excitement as she gleefully looked at her hands and announced: “He’s a very very famous writer and he’s going to bring our website to the next level.”
After hearing the name of said writer and not being able to place it I felt like a 15-year old had just told me that DJ Hot Stuff was the best thing since sliced bread and all I could do was stare in the distance and nod my head like an idiot because I had no idea what anyone was talking about. I felt like I had just experienced a generation gap.
When I was asked for my opinion I didn’t know what to say. I spouted some bullshit about the company being smart for hiring a blogger because keeping a blog up to date is a lot of work; my estimate is 1-2 hours a day. I also made some recommendations about software and a design. After that I kept my mouth shut.
My personal opinion: anyone can set up a blog, but not everyone can blog. People seem to think that if you build a blog people will suddenly start to come in droves; but realistically you have to work and work hard to get readership. Blogging takes time and commitment; it also sucks a huge part of your soul into it. And, those blogs that have a lot of soul are the sites that gain readership.
To hire a local celebrity or a “professional writer” to blog most times fall short of the mark. Blogging is about candour, personality and about being who you are; and, when sites are heavily edited and/or written somewhere in the publicity junket the point is lost. I’m not saying that professional writers can’t blog – but rather when people who write for a living get thrown into the blogging ring they quickly discover that there are a whole new set of rules that reject the practices of traditional media – and it can be a hard pill to swallow.
I guess the same could be said for the other side of the coin (i.e. bloggers becoming writers); but, that’s a whole other post.
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