Not something that I ever think about, but I’ve seen a lot of scuttle about making money on the Internet by being bloggers. I just don’t see it being much of a living…but I do see people doing it, nonetheless. I have other ideas as to why this will/won’t work.
I wrote this over at RTG in the comments section, so it’s all punctuationally deficient. It’s in response to her questioning how they are going to make money with advertising.
they just want to be like the newspapers. let me explain.
as a powerful, influential member of the media, I know how difficult it can be to run a business on the internets. what some of the more popular of these “bloggers” do are to point to some things other people wrote, as well as provide their own original content. seems kind of boring and simple to me.
that’s why I’ve fought the notion of “blogging.” it’s just silly. anyway, there are so few people that are interesting enough for us to care about, and those people generally want their privacy.
another facet in the very recent phenomena is that of commenting. the “Post a comment” box has allowed people to instantly add to the story. in fact, for the most part, the blogger’s main ally is the commenters. you get you a couple good ones, or just one famous one, and you can expect to draw a huge audience.
but, seriously, what’s the purpose of a blog? is it not to entertain? is it to inform? is it to show how that evil George W. Bush sold us a bill of goods and got us into an unwinnable war?
I’m honestly asking these questions. I’ve been on the Internet proper since before most people knew what the heck it was. I actually predate the World Wide Web, and I’ve watched it evolve quickly into something that I live in and work in.
the main drawing point of “the blogs,” if I can use that homogenous term, is that they are concentrated writings on current matters of import. the speed and availability they provide are merely extensions of the original paintings on the sides of caves.
so, it is my assertion that we are merely calling the new editorials “blogs.” we are referring to letters to the editor as “comments.” it is merely a 21st Century version of the local paper. and as anybody in print media will tell you, you aren’t selling the paper, you’re selling the ads.
Now, there already “group blogs,” where there are many commentators, such as IMAO, and they got advertising out the wazoo. My favorite “blogger,” John Gruber of Daring Fireball fame has said that he doesn’t make a huge living with his site, and he can’t up and quit his other job just to comment on things.
However, people like Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter were successful writers before starting to do the blogging thing. And the Instapundit is college professor first, blogger extraordinaire second. I think.
Of the bloggers, I think that Daily Kos has the best way to make money on this thing, both charge for ad-free content, involve your audience with comments, allow them to create their own content, and reward them when they do.
But that’s what newspapers used to do. The old time “dinosaur blogs” have become so tepidly stiff in response to the new media, that I’m not sure they realize that they are dying. Given the choice of an editorial page in a paper and the dozens of stream you get in any political web site, I’m going to go with something that lets me express my opinion right now.
It’s the same with other, non-political blogs. Hey, I at least admit that I read justjared and the Superficial. It’s for the articles. Yeah. That’s it.
But they are more entertaining and immediate than waiting ALL WEEK for Us Weekly or something like that to come out. Jeez, waiting a whole week? I’d never find out what the latest Tom & Katie news was.
And that’s really the point, isn’t it?