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Topic: blogging - how critical is it?
| Author | Message |
| jlm920 | Posted – 7/8/2007 8:57:16 PM | show profile Do you consider blogging critical for your career? Or do you ever feel that the time you spend blogging could be better spent doing something else to further your career? |
| mailbag | Posted – 7/8/2007 9:23:37 PM | show profile | email poster Not critical at all for my career and have been a journalist for nearly 30 years now. For my day job I cover news, outside of that I cover news for my own website as time permits... and if I feel moved enough to write an oped that piece is posted on my site as well. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/8/2007 11:05:04 PM | show profile You can have a very successful writing career while never writing a single blog. The reason question is why you are blogging and what you want to come out of it. Lots of people do it as a release and don't think of it as part of their career, really. |
| Village Gal | Posted – 7/9/2007 6:50:44 AM | show profile Most succesful writers I know do not have a blog. |
| chucho | Posted – 7/9/2007 9:49:07 AM | show profile The Pointyer website has a good column by their career adviser that basically says you shouldn't even be showing prospective employers your blog unless it's a really good and relevant one, like the handful (and I mean handful) of journos that have interesting blogs related to their particular area -- seems to me these tend to be designers and copy editors. Here's a good example of a guy who has merged his online portfolio with an interesting and relevant blog project called "Banned for Life": http://tommangan.net/banned/ |
| JimmyG | Posted – 7/10/2007 4:39:21 PM | show profile I blogged when I had very little work. When the business picked up I abandoned the blog, as I couldn't justifty taking time away from paying gigs (or family time) to vent my opinions. I suspect a lot of writers do the same. If you're not being actively published elsewhere, maintaining a well-written and researched blog can at least give you a dollop of credibility, and can help you cultivate or target a content specialty. Otherwise it's just more work for no money. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 7/10/2007 4:45:05 PM | show profile That's kind of the point. If you are just blogging to vent your opinion, chances are it won't lead anywhere. If you develop a blog to support or book, or with the goal of building your business, it might provide some benefits. But that really comes down to if you have a concrete business plan for your blog, which most people don't. If you're doing it for fun, it really isn't something you intend to benefit your career. It's just recreation. --I blogged when I had very little work. When the business picked up I abandoned the blog, as I couldn't justifty taking time away from paying gigs (or family time) to vent my opinions. I suspect a lot of writers do the same. If you're not being actively published elsewhere, maintaining a well-written and researched blog can at least give you a dollop of credibility, and can help you cultivate or target a content specialty. Otherwise it's just more work for no money.-- |
