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Using the Principles of Journalism in Writing your BlogBy Conroy Julian

Blogging gives everyone more for less but incorporating it with good principlesof Journalism will help one to hit his target. This is so whether you are blogging for a firm promoting a product or if you are involved in social marketing.

The blog is a website with lots of content, readers are allowed to add content,and readers invariably subscribe to interesting blogs. The real purpose of theblog however must be rooted in the best practices of good communication for it to effective.So the blog is an interactive and dynamic website which is being updated continually over time. It is a great improvement on the old static website. It is not unusual for someone to visit a companys website which shows much promise, but aftera couple of visits one sees no change. It therefore becomes dull and boring andcannot hold your attention. Blogging solves this problem as writers with passion for a subject will constantly write on that subject, adding content week afterweek without getting weary.The blogging process has been facilitated by creative website developers who des

ign dynamic sites such as Face Book, Twitter or Type Pad which free up the content producers or writers to do what they do best. They can now concentrate on properly researching their content, writing it, adding the appropriate pictures, quotes sound and video by just a click of the mouse. They no longer have master concepts such; as hypertext mark-up language, HTML, Style Sheets, Structured QueryLanguage, SQL, Java Script and Cascading Styles Sheets, CSS.etc. The result isthat these blog sites overtime are filled with rich and interesting content making the rounds into search engines.Allowing readers to add content to a blog is at the heart of the blogging generation.

The adding of content to the website by members of the audience shows that feedback is a built-in feature of blogging. In this, the real information age, what

would communication be without feedback? It would endorse the old hyperdermic needle approach where the audience is expected to be influenced by the message without question or comment. This is in contrast to the blogging approach which isnon-linear, iterative and flexible. The result is that one learns as much fromthe feedback as one learns from the blog itself.Recently, a newly elected Member of Parliament blogged, suggesting some names that Jamaica could be called when it becomes a republic. All the suggested namesinclude the word, republic, names were suggested such as: The Democratic Republic ofamaica, The Peoples Republic of Jamaica, The Jamaica Republic, and many more. Onereader suggested that the name should not be changed because Jamaica is a brand.I suggested that there is no need to change the name because a country can be

a republic without that word being written in its name. In support, I stated t h

at I have never heard about the Republic of the United States. One reader countered that the official name for the United States is; The Federal Republic of theUnited States of America. When I double checked, I found that the USA can be described as a federal republic but that its official name remains the United States of America. The instantaneous nature of the feedback certainly clarifies thecommunication process as the blogger is assured that the blog is being read andthat it has impact on someone in a special way.

Subscription is all about the readers of a blog telling the blogger that he/shehas interesting content and would like to access that content in the future. The traditional approach to subscription by newspapers, magazines, or cable television, is driven by a much more effective demand by the user of the content. Thisis so because the readers are willing to pay in advance for content not deliver

ed, or in some cases created. In the context of the web, an arrangement by which permission is granted to an online service can be described as subscription. The ubiquitous nature of the internet however, has led to an exponential increase

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in content creators providing outputs of varied quality. As a result many bloggers are now willing to give their service free of cost in order to breakthroughin a market to control hearts and minds. In the long run those who have honedand mix the traditional skills of writing, re-writing revision and presentationwith the new media environment will have a distinctive advantage. This is so especially when questions of accuracy, validity, reliability, objectivity fairnessand balance are thrown into the mix.

Since bloggers are essentially content creators for the internet, which is a platform which supports script, audio and video, the writing styles ought to reflect this reality. Writing for the traditional mass media of radio, television andprint has distinctive approaches. These approaches are related to how the leador the opening sentences are written, how the story is structured, the sentencestructure and word choice. The challenge for the blogger is to know when to usewhat approach in order to make the communication effective.In the final analysis, it is of paramount importance for the blogger to keep inmind the goal and objectives of the blog. Is it designed to sell goods and services, to inform, educate and entertain, or to sustain or change behavior? Is it supposed to focus on the fact, as in the case of a news report or the presentatio

n of research findings? Is the focus on opinion, as in the case of a newspapereditorials or talk show hosts on radio, television or the internet?

Finally, the same standard of care that is expected from the traditional approach to publishing must also be taken by professionals using new media. All of theabove are necessary if one plans to grow a sustainable business. Otherwise, youmay go for the instant impact of sensationalism which cannot withstand the testof time, In other words, we all need to create and reflect the issues completelywith credibility. In the long run, success means more coverage for less money,greater reach and audience penetration and self actualization for the passionateblogger.