The Secret Ingredient for Successful Blogging: Passion
Apr 10th, 2007 by Dan Blank
Mark Evans shares his thoughts on journalists’ adoption of blogging:
“Fundamentally, most reporters writing blogs are doing so because they have to do it; not because they want to do it. As a result, these blogs lack passion and enthusiasm - two critical elements for successful blogs. Many newspaper bloggers are just going through the motions.”
You have to remember that the current generation of reporters are being asked to do more - write for the newspaper, write for the Web, blog, podcast, video blog - with little or no additional compensation while newsrooms are shrinking. How much energy would you put into something new if your boss said there was nothing it in for you except more work? Of course, the next generation of reporters will likely have an entirely different attitude and skill set, which may means they’ll be more enthusiastic about blogging, video blogging, etc. In the meantime, most newspaper blogs will likely be, at best, alright but nothing to write home about.”
He hits on a few interesting points, not all of which I agree with. However, his opinion that passion is the driving force within blogging is dead on. While this can be expressed in a variety of ways from a writer’s perspective, it will be interesting to see how blogs evolve as more mainstream media adopts the platform.