The Modern Broadsheet

Earlier this year (2007) there was a flurry of activity over how to explain what bloggers do. Some suggested that we just continue to say we blog, taking a noun and converting it to a verb. Others have suggested we say we publish articles. It seems the discussion has started again, though with a somewhat different slant, as Ben Yoskovitz, Tony Hung, Matt Ambrose, and others respond to Jakob Nielson’s call for his clients to write articles, not blog posts.

This isn’t an odd situation. Every form of specialization has gone through a process by which it created it’s own unique vocabulary to describe what it entails as it differentiates itself from other fields. The process of publishing work in the format known as a blog is no different. Personally, I use several terms interchangably, though they aren’t really interchangable.

Article - a work of nonfiction writing
Essay - a work of opinion
Post - to deliver a missive, to make public, a work published in an electronic format.
Journal - a record of events and reflections; a newspaper, a periodical containing articles on a specific subject
Publish - to make known to the public

We are publishers in the sense that we make our work known to the public. We do post our work. Our work can be called posts. But to say we post a post just sounds silly. Some of the works we publish are articles - purely factual material. Other works we publish are essays. Sometimes we blog short stories. At other times we post poetry. Some work is long. Other work is short. In large part, blogs are journals, both in the sense of being a record of events and reflections, and in the sense of containing material revolving around a specific subject. But blog has the benefit of being a lot easier to say than electronic journal.

The word blog has a negative connotation for some people. On the one hand, a lot of people associate blogging with a personal journal published for all the world to see. On the other hand, others associate blogging with business and marketing, and this leaves a bad taste in their mouths. Both definitions limit the medium to a narrow band too small to hold the reality of what is. Just as art is not limited to paintings that are unrecognizable or offensive, blogs are not limited to just one type of writing.

Since the works published in blogs allow - no, they invite - an immediate response from the public, some people feel the work itself doesn’t fall in an already recognized category. But they do. The speed and easy with which the public and other writers can respond has nothing to do with the type of work we do. In many ways our work is a continuation of that of the broadsheet publishers and pamphleteers of four hundred years ago. Anyone with the means to have a broadsheet printed and published - not a terribly expensive proposition, was able to do so. Readers replied in the same form, or took the discussion to the dinner table and pub. With blogs, anyone with the means to access the internet can set up shop. The conversation happens in the comments, on other blogs, and at the dinner table and pub.

Mr. Nielson describes articles as in-depth, original, and driven by the author’s expertise. Blog posts he defines as superficial, derivative, and driven by outside sources. This is a false dichotomy driven by his desire to get his clients to position themselves as elite experts whom people pay for their expertise. Blog posts have been, and will be, all of these things. There is nothing demeaning about blogging, nor does it make your work a commodity or dilute your brand if you are branding yourself as an expert. On the contrary, blogging over a period of time will create your brand and establish your degree of knowledge and expertise.

A blog is just a platform, a medium of communication. The word is as good as any, and better than most.

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