PokornyPundit

Your source for opinion on news, politics, science, religion, media, and culture

Monday, August 15, 2005

Some thoughts on blogging

Rob Taylor has some thoughts on the nature of "quality blogging":

Simply put, I believe that when a blogger starts to put too many posts in one day, that don't contain enough substance, he trivializes the entire blog, and the value of his commentary. It happens with even the most prominent of bloggers (Instapunidit, America Blog). It's no longer worth coming to their site to read their insights on subjects, because all they're doing is linking to articles they've found which do the investigative or opinion work for them.

I definitely see where he is coming from. However, I believe that the nature of the blogosphere differs greatly from that of the MSM, where you typically have a set number of solid articles written and laid out for the next day's issue. We are all aware that the Internet moves at lightning speed, with new news becoming old news sometimes in a matter of hours. The frequency of updating one's blog becomes key in attempting to "keep up" with things. Because often times before you know it, the debate about a particular subject has been wrapped up and all the points have been made. That's just the name of the game. If, for the sake of time, one finds it easier to acknowledge a major story or issue through more linking and quoting as opposed to commentary, I see that as being better than not playing a hand at all. But of course, as I think Rob is trying to say, if that becomes the norm rather than the exception, then perhaps your readers will tire of the "same old."

While on the subject of the nature of blogging, I would recommend that anyone interested in the topic should check out Hugh Hewitt's book Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World. It's a fairly quick and easy read and it will give you a lot of insight into the rise of the blogosphere and how it compares/impacts/relates to current mainstream media.

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