February 11, 2006
On Attracting Readers
While discussing why he blogs and the relation of blogging to traditional media Dave Neiwert says:
Actually, the function in the old communications model that bloggers come closest to replicating is that of the editor -- not in the sense of being an overseer of writing and reportorial quality, but in setting priorities: deciding which stories are important and deserve greater attention, ascertaining which stories are reported upon.My first reaction was to think in terms of quantity of readers. Then I relealized there was more to it than quantity. Some attract readers based on the quality of insight alone; others based on a combination of quality and quantity of content and still others based on quantity and a quality of insight calculated to attract various sects of true believers.A good blogger is not so much a journalist as a good editor (and remember, most editors are writers too). A blog is thus a kind of publication, and it attracts readers according to the quality of insight its editor brings to it.
All of which leads to realizing that the quality of a blogs readers are directly related to the quality of the editorial insight and the editorial goal. We can all point out blogs that attract lots of readers because the editor had the insight to focus the content on a particular ideological orientation, sport or hobby. Nothing wrong with this but it seems to be something more than what Neiwert is suggesting.
Do read the rest of his interesting post.
Posted by Steve on February 11, 2006
