Some Differences Between Pitching Mainstream Press and Bloggers

April 30, 2008 · Comments

Media Makers

Meet the next generation of people who put stories out on the web. I say “next,” but blogging has been around for years and years. Some of us are making decent money at it, hiring and employing staffs, etc. Those types seem like mainstream press. But they’re not. One difference? We blog based on what drives our passion, plus in the case of some folks, what drives revenue.

Blogs have reach. Blogs don’t have as many barriers to cross before you reach the decision maker. Blogs don’t (always) require a PR agency to help you get access. Blogs always need good content, right? So it seems like a natural thing to just lob stories at a blogger, because more often than not, they’re going to be receptive, will run the bit if it fits their readership (viewership), and everyone wins, right?

Some differences.

Bloggers Often Write From Passion

Lots of us can’t NOT blog. We love what we do. We’re obsessed with getting information out into the world. Desperate to be useful. I’d say that we’re like news junkies, only we’re really interested in how we can contribute to making the news.

Bloggers Have a Bit More Ego Feeding Required

Try to disagree with me on that one, but when I just start rattling bloggers’ names down quickly, I can tell you that there are things you’ll want to do to reach out, and one is to know what makes a certain blogger tick. Want to get into TechCrunch or Mashable? Be sure you’re giving one the exclusive, and pick wisely. Want to get covered by Engadget? Don’t give it to Gizmodo on the same day. Go a few tiers down in blogs and what we want is to know that you know who we are, and what we cover. A pitch about something in my general area isn’t the same as noticing the kinds of things I write about and giving me something that fits.

Bloggers Like Free Prize Inside Experiences

If you want us to write about your software app or your new gizmo, give a few away. Nokia, Nikon, Flip, GM (Saturn), Garmin, and tons of other companies have given out gear on loaner programs (sometimes handled well, and other times handled a bit weirdly). And if it’s not something directly tangible, it’s something like getting invited to a pre-screening of a movie, or to a closed beta of an application, or something else that makes one feel exclusive. Still an ego play, and yet, very effective because once we play with your toys, we’ll be inclined to write about them.

Will we be fair and give opinions on the competitors like an official review site? Not always. Depends who it is, whether that’s part of their bailiwick, and whether they even know how to approach such a thing. I sure don’t. If I’m given something free to mess around with, I disclose it when talking about it, but then, my site isn’t a journalistic effort to review things fairly.

Bloggers Don’t Have To Be Polite

Though I prefer politeness, and try to be polite often (Sorry, Tom), it’s not required. And we don’t always do what you’d wish. It’s a little uncertain sometimes what you’ll get when you send a request to us. Wish it weren’t true, and I would prefer that we be polite more often, but we don’t have to be.

What Twitter Had to Say When I Asked My Friends

(That’s a hint, too. We’re far more networked. We talk to each other. We talk about YOU.)



Pitching ME

First, I have to say that I’m not usually on the lookout for a news story. If you read back through my posts, a great many of them deal with strategy and tactics that people can employ. I read about 1000 news items a day, plus I have a day job that isn’t professional blogging. So, I don’t always need news.

And yet.

If you’ve got something interesting about a new tool, a new way that someone’s using social media to build business or organizational relationships, a sense of what’s interesting to me and want to feed me something, here’s what you might do:

  • Be my Twitter friend.
  • Have read my last ten blog posts to have a sense of my flavor.
  • Give me links, pointers, possibly screenshots, and follow up in about 9 days when I still haven’t managed to get your story out.
  • Kindly understand if the story doesn’t fit what I cover (often).
  • Realize that I can’t always check out your website.
  • Understand that a “social network for ____” (dogs, lawyers, imaginary friends, ex-cons) isn’t really new unless they’re doing something REALLY new.
  • Write the first paragraph of your email as if you really did only send it to me (I get it, but pretend, okay?)

While We’re At It

Here’s what I *am* really interested in writing more about, and where you can help me, if you’ve got an interesting story:

  • Social media and network use inside the enterprise. (Spoke at Thomson/Reuters and IBM recently and was really impressed in both cases with what they’re already doing).
  • Specialized social network applications – things that make a network more valuable, vs just profiles, blogs, pictures, and friends.
  • Books about social media, social networks, next-generation PR/marketing, business, etc.
  • Business models that aren’t advertising-centric. (For instance, Sermo has a neat model. So does Gimp.TV).
  • Mainstream people coming into social media in a realistic and meaningful way.
  • Nonprofit and organizational experiences with social media that have made an impact.
  • Location-based tools and networking (for instance, I’m digging Yahoo’s Fire Eagle stuff)
  • Technology that improves business, that improves personal interfacing with the Internet.

I’m probably forgetting a few of my favorites in there, but let’s start there. If you’re pitching something like THAT, drop me a line. My contact info is in the sidebar. I’m easy to find.

Further Reading

Social media expert, Jason Falls covered an advertising professional’s view on this recently, and that’s worth checking out, too.

Edelman’s superstar, Leah Jones showed us how to talk to bloggers.

Your Thoughts?

Lots of people who come here are PR or marketing professionals, journalists, and the like. What do you think about what I’ve said so far? What are your tales of success with bloggers, or your tales of woe? Bloggers, am I wrong in my starting concepts about what might feel different about bloggers vs mainstream press? I’m eager for your take.

Screen caps made with Skitch

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Tagged as: , , , , , ,

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Thesis Theme for WordPress

Thesis WordPress theme

Thesis is the search engine optimized WordPress theme of choice for serious online publishers. If you’re a blogger who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, Thesis will give a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via Thesis hooks.

With so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site. The theme is robust and flexible enough not only to accommodate a site like ChrisBrogan.com, but also to enable the site to run far more efficiently than it ever has before.

  • chris,

    Great article!! you should do this as an e-book pdf maybe? with awesome info graphics and whatnot. Let me know if you need any help!

    // jesse
  • Well thought-out piece Chris. I got a real nice intro pitch tonight from someone at Myspace. Here's what it said, exactly.

    "Hi Jim,
    Hope you are well – I read the blog a lot and want to make sure you are getting our news – ok to add this address to my media list?
    P."

    My response: "Sure thing, just don't send me boilerplate press releases. If you think it would interest me, send me a summary and tell me why you think it pertains to me."

    I'll take those kinds of pitches. But the minute they send me a cut/paste press release I'll put them in my spam block.
  • Sweet post. I didn't want it to end!! Putting the passion into more of the things we do...bloggin' and beyond. Thank you.
  • This is excellent from 360 degrees. Most importantly, it's a piece that makes me think, "What would my version of this look like?" That's great thinking and writing.

    Thank you.
  • As someone from that mainstream media world trying to move to the new one (and liking your/my new world more than the media one, generally), Chris, I think you raise a ton of great points.

    But a couple of things I'd note...

    Don't think of a single mainstream media, either. Just as you note here - know your audience. The trade magazine folks need a very different pitch than their mass media colleagues. They have different audiences and different experience levels.

    Mainstream people have passion, too. But often, their beats are so wide-ranging that they can't be as plugged into all the worlds they might want to be. This is especially true for TV and local news people. If you're not pitching to a trade magazine, you're pitching to a relative generalist. I might love the cool tech gadget you're pitching, but I just spent three days focusing on foreclosures. Catch me up.

    In theory (and not always reality), I just hit delete. I won't call you out publicly, even if you deserve it. I don't talk as much to people who cover my beat from other media organizations, but that's no reason to try to piss me off. I try to be fair, even if I don't really want to. (And if you think I'm not, explain to me your concerns like an adult.)

    And I won't take free stuff. Even if I really want to.

    But don't cross me either - I'll still hold a grudge if what I thought was an exclusive is on someone else's air, front page, or yes, their blog.
  • Chris

    Brilliant. Are there mainstream bloggers?
  • thanks muchos Chris! again..

    @Ted McEnroe

    first you say:
    In theory (and not always reality), I just hit delete

    then:
    "But don’t cross me either - I’ll still hold a grudge if what I thought was an exclusive is on someone else’s air, front page, or yes, their blog."

    Ted, if you are of the "I just delete" attitude, I am wondering why you would "hold a grudge" because someone pitched to another blogger / writer. No disrespect intended but, it sounds like you are ok with taking what you want but, not totally open to giving. Did I miss something?

    I love what Garyvee says here: http://twurl.nl/m3nuk0 .
  • @chrisbrogan this is excellent! It helps by meeting people who don't understand social media where they are--an understanding of traditional media--and bringing them to a better understanding of bloggers.

    I also liked the Pitching ME section. Idea: what if every blogger maintained a Pitching ME post, tagged it as such, and it was aggregated to PR people can use it to filter who to pitch to? Pull instead of push...

    I'd love to help make that happen...

    I had asked you to move from your Tom-rant from earlier today to concrete advice and you did. Props!

    Twitter: @elliottng
  • A terrific resource once again Chris.
    One of the challenges in pitching to bloggers is finding them. Cision maintains a good database of off-line media and their large on-line counter-parts but misses many of the important bloggers. Alltop.com has created a great resource pulling together categories like "fashion" for those who are in pitching mode.
    @lindasherman
  • Chris, man you are unbelievable! You are a fountain of knowledge and passion. I also just covered this topic where I asked bloggers to,"help us help you."Tell us what you're looking for in you contact section. It's a beautiful thing...

    Also, I published a free ebook on this subject for anyone who wants to dive in deeper. "the art and science of blogger relations" is available for download on the right hand column at briansolis.com

    Please keep up the beneficial work!
  • Jilly
    Yes, there's difference between the mainstream press and bloggers, and I agree with what you mentioned about how bloggers behave.

    I will see the difference in this way - an ideological machine. Mainstream press, to some extent, does not possess ultimate freedom of speech, reporters are asked to reflect the interest of the media organization. While bloggers, on the other hand, do not have such burden. Their stance on the issues can change from day to day basis, they will not be blamed on their inconsistencies on issues.

    Enough saying bull-shit, you got a great idea of 'pitching', this should be the way bloggers get connected, and we grow into a network similar to international media organizations like AP, Reuters. Bloggers are like correspondents :-)
  • @Ted - You're right that I should have stated that mainstream writers and media have passion, too. Silly of me. I'm sorry. Perhaps it would be better to state that bloggers are more often guided by our passion, where the mainstream have other criteria? I'm glad you're here and part of the conversation. I look forward to meeting at some time. Please remind me to tell you about the NECN camera guy. : )

    @Brian - please feel free to share the link. : ) Your materials are top shelf.
  • Pretty neat.

    Here's another example I wrote yesterday:

    http://www.chrishambly.com/content/how-communicate
  • Chris,
    Great article. As a PR practitioner, I appreciate that you give us some tips on what to do, instead of just focusing on what not to do when reaching out to bloggers. Thanks.
  • Kat
    this is just in regards to the general comments
    including the twitters
    but bloggers need to get over themselves :)

    i think the conversation etc is valid
    but
    people ... you blog.
    i'm not sure how that qualifies you as deserving a higher quality of service that the real world receives?

    that isn't going to come out smoother than that : /
    but really
    yikes
  • Hey Chris,

    Absolutely! I think the first one is key. Bloggers are passionate folks. If you can uncover, WHY they blog, you are much more likely to make a better pitch.

    -Shama
  • I'm so glad you posted on this topic. I find it being extremely annoying to be solicited by others without actually engaging in my life.

    There's really a huge difference when you really actively communicate and friend with someone online. I think that since the evolution of the net, we're no longer laughing at others who say, "my friend on the net.." and so forth. It's no longer a wall. The internet has now become a door, and because of that, we can no longer play by the same rules or simply connect with someone simply to market something. We have now become more accessable and therefore, there are more rules and personal space issues. We have to realize that the net is no longer the space between two people. It's no longer a separation of people. This was a great post. Now I just got a new idea for a post myself about the internet in how it's changed from a wall to a door. I think that makes sense, right?
  • I’m not so sure bloggers have to train or retrain anybody.

    In fact, if you were to transpose your sentiments back onto mainstream media, I’d venture they’d have a similar laundry list of pet peeves and advice for those who pitch. And I think they found out a long time ago that politeness isn’t necessary.

    It’s important to remember that while the blogger pipeline to the world is indeed different than the traditional pipelines, everything has been done before.

    I don’t know this to be true, but I suspect we’re all living through Blogging’s more innocent age simply by virtue of timing and fate, and somewhere in the future, blogging as a form of media will be as mainstream as old line media, just a little different.

    Look at your personal journey, Chris.

    Think about who you were as a blogger a year ago and who you are today. Are you more aggressive, less forgiving, more demanding? Remember when you were happy that ANYBODY cared to read what you have to say? Do you have the time to be as personal and warm as you used to, or are you more discerning about who you give your time to?

    And so Blogging in general will go. There will always be the disruptors whose business and scope of influence requires them to mature into the mainstream only to make room for more disruptors.

    Stay as long as you can, my friend.
  • Eleanor
    Chris - This is brilliant and nothing short of what I have come to appreciate about you. I can't tell you how inspired I am that you broke blogging code by editing the post and comments proving that it is more important to do right than be right. I'm an even bigger fan now - if that is possible.
  • Oooo this is one of my favourite topics these days!

    Having been involved in both mainstream and not-so-mainstream media over the years, I have to say that one of the key differences between mainstream media and bloggers is that mainstream media's bottom line always has been, and always will be dictated by advertisers.

    How does this affect the way media captures and covers events? Simple. They cover the stories that will get them the most readers/listeners/viewers and that makes their advertisers happy. The boilerplate press release is their friend because there is no filtering required, they just cover the stories that are sure to be most popular (read: what everyone else is covering).

    Bloggers and not-so-mainstream media (like community access stations) are not held by the same rules at all, and that means the approach HAS to be different. When I worked in community access TV, I was boilerplate press release pitched continuously (20 - 30 a day), and I rarely responded to any of them. What I did respond to was personal contact (phone, email) and someone telling me why their story was unique.

    In light of the emerging "blogger media" empire, mainstream media has some serious adjustments to make over the next little while if they hope to compete.
  • This is great advice, as always, Chris. I think what it comes down to (and I've heard this over and over from people like you) is that journalists, bloggers -- even those of us in PR -- are PEOPLE. We're individuals, with different interests, passions, and agendas.

    So, while there might be some best practices for pitching, you have to work on a case-by-case basis or you're set up to fail.

    Thanks for sharing what you're looking for in a pitch... maybe we'll see more of the same from others (a la Brian Solis' "help us help you" post). I'll certainly be sharing this with colleagues!
  • I should have added that as a blogger, if you want me to talk about your product, put it in my hands. If you send me a demo or a sample, I will use it and I will write about it. I will be honest and not always favorable. I just used a product that completely failed to live up to its marketing and I'm going to say just that.

    http://twitter.com/z11 believes that courting bloggers is far more affective than main stream media.
  • jb
    Recipe for coverage:

    1. News (i.e. actually new or new angle)
    2. Relationships with journalists/editor/bloggers
    3. Relevance

    The blogosphere is so damn noisy because it's down the media food chain. Apple embargoes "news" with chosen reporters so the news breaks in the NYT (not so much the blogs) the day or product releases or during Macworld. Blogs jump on the "news" and amplify with opinion and what-not.

    Madonna graces the cover of Vanity Fair in photos spreads shot weeks/months in advance by her favorite shooter. The coverage coincides with album release. Blogs run pictures of her walking from her trainer's gym to the car.

    Big established players and brands roll out information much differently from the rest of the noisy attention-starved pack of companies. These companies often try to appeal to bloggers to get their first "ink" or "placements." Hence, the avalanche of content (infinite storage and news holes on the Web, right?) from some PR practitioners. Not much different from spam.

    Mainstream press can be a filter, and has limited space to publish every single story. Blogs? Have at it. And the bloggers who really break significant news, more power to them.
  • I think Kristen hit the nail on the head. Everyone is a person. And that being said, we all have passions and egos. Egos that need to be stroked and passions that we'll drop everything for.

    Bloggers just happen to be in the business of niche. So if you have a story you want written about that involves strawberry yogurt in 10 oz jars, your story is more likely to be a hit with StrawberryYogurt.blogspot.com than the Washington Post Food Guide.
  • Wow, I just called the bunch of us egotistical and that we need baby handling and you didn't flame me? Come on! : )

    Thanks, everyone for your perspective.

    What are the other tips we should be spreading?
  • Nobody flamed because it's true! Even PR folks have egos.

    It really helps to write in the blogger's (or journalist's, for that matter) writing style and voice. It's not easy and takes a lot of practice, but the closer to their style you are, the more likely they are to like it.

    It's akin to a face to face conversation filled with mirroring. If you're mirroring their movements, they tend to start agreeing with you. If you mirror their voice in writing, they feel some sort of kindred relation.

    There's also being a member of their community. It's not easy and takes time, but before you pitch you may want to comment on a recent post-- IF you have something worth while to say.

    And this doesn't work with everyone, but some of the best bloggers out there open up their posts for conversations, so point it out in your pitch. Point out "I wonder what your readers would have to say?"

    There's so much advice, tips and tricks out there, but the base mantra is "Get to know them." It's not too difficult. Pretend you're at a bar and just start chatting about anything they find interesting and eventually bring up your stories.

    Also, Chris, here at Wetpaint we can dig up "Nonprofit and organizational experiences with social media that have made an impact" stories whenever you want.

    See? Slick right? Eh.
  • Hard to argue the truth, Chris. Kidding.

    But, where do you draw the line between bloggers and journalists? Barriers to access? Platform? Ownership? Isn't this distinction becoming increasingly blurred everyday? WHO are these "bloggers" we're talking about?

    The reason I bring this up is because by lumping bloggers together -- and giving tips that people should apply across the board -- seems counterintuitive to how bloggers want to be treated: as individuals.

    I don't say this to discount all the advice you're giving, because I'm sure most of it applies most of the time... but just something to think about before we start rattling off more generalizations.
  • Chris:

    Connie Reece was part of a terrific panel at BlogHer Biz two weeks ago in NYC. Here's a short clip on YouTube where she talks about the approach: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kPFmgQR6Q4

    As for me, I really wish peeps would stop leading with "Dear Blogger" which is only slightly more personal than "Dear Demographic."

    It's not about ego, it's about companies stopping by to slap a flyer on my windshield hoping I'll call for a window washing estimate.
  • Realize that a blogger, as you mentioned, most likely has a full time day job, so you might be "pitching" the other side of the blogger as well.
  • Great advice. Paul Young (http://youngie.prblogs.org/)gave a great talk at PodCamp NYC that covered some of the same topics you've addressed here. It's nice to hear similar points stressed in multiple places... that whole "people get what you're saying after they've read it 7-10 times" axiom. I'll be using your blog, newsletter, and the work you do with Julien Smith (http://inoveryourhead.net) with your eBooks/PDFs in an upcoming internal digital evangelism presentation. Thanks.
  • Thanks Chris. Here's the link to the free ebook on blogger relations: http://tinyurl.com/2hvotm

    There are also links to other free ebooks at www.briansolis.com that include: PR Tips for Startups, The Art and Science of Social Media and Community Relations, The Social Media Manifesto, and The Art of Listening and Engagement Through Social Media. (all on the right hand side of the homepage.

    Cheers!
  • jb
    What would be neat is if bloggers on this comments string would share some of the work they have posted that were the result of:

    a. Enterprise reporting / sourcing
    b. Good PR pitches
    c. Reading newswires / blogs

    Can someone take the first crack?

    Will anyone admit "b" and how it went down?
  • Easy to understand and gets the point across. You're right on these topics, Chris. It gets a little murky sometimes when the social media world continues to evolve.

    Speaking of ego, it's also easy to get caught up in the blogstar illusion status (phrase courtesy of Rohit Bhargava). Don't let it happen.

    It's a give and take. Keep bringing the important issues to the forefront, Chris!
  • One of the things we did was first approach real estate bloggers who had already blogged about us of their own free will. I asked them what I could do to help them, what information they would like and in what format. Many really appreciated that I took the time to ask. Only one blogger didn't respond. At the time I contacted, I wasn't expecting anything as far as coverage. I was looking to build relationships and foster possible partnerships for the future.

    Several bloggers gave us great feedback about our newly redesigned newsletter and asked that we send it to them regularly. Both sides walked away feeling warmer about the other. And I know that the next time I do have a story, I have new contacts that I can reach out to in a real context, not just a blind email.
  • Hey Chris...

    Liked your article. I have a feeling that you may have gotten one too many email's that start with something like: "Hi, Billy Mays Here....Let me tell you about this blog...." (in case you don't watch TV. This is Billy Mays: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mays).

    Think OxyClean, etc...

    --Marco
  • Chris, good insight "..we want is to know that you know who we are, and what we cover"

    As an entrepreneur, I can say that many of us are so near-sightedly passionate about our products that it's hard to understand why everyone wouldn't jump at the chance to blog about our "game-changing/paradigm shifting" Web 2.0 Post-it Note application.

    When you're an entrepreneur (or PR person) who's new to the game and don't know "the rules" (some of which I'm sure I've broken in the past;), forwarding a press release with no personal tie-in may seem reasonable.. but taking the time to get to know the blogger and approaching him in a genuinely personal way is the way to go.

    Thanks for documenting "the rules" Chris.
  • Very interesting Chris! I'm a former mainstream reporter tip toeing into the social media world. I (humbly --I'm a newbie) think bloggers are more likely to pursue details they find interesting than a mainstream writer.Mainstream writers don't have the time to delve as deeply as they would like most of the time. Newsrooms are cutting back and writers are doing multiple jobs.

    Pitching mainstream writers is very much like pitching bloggers. You need to know what they cover, what they personally find interesting and tailor the pitch accordingly.

    And as nonprofit person now, I'm looking at Facebook for starters as a way to increase attendance at our events. A lot of other people are doing it so it's off it a slow start.

    I have to say -- I hope most bloggers are polite. They don't have to be nice, but polite is good. Otherwise, I'll get a little twinge of the eye when I run across the blog until I forget the rudeness.
  • Great post Chris! If someone wanted to pitch me, screw Twit Pitch, I'd send them to this article ASAP!
  • @aronado I should have been clearer... my grudge is more against someone with whom I'm already producing (in that slower mainstream media way) an exclusive that really isn't. Don't tell me I have an exclusive if I don't... basically.

    @chris Thanks for the warm welcome...

    @sue murphy Oooh, now you hit one of my favorite topics. Don't lump the individual journalist with the media company. I don't spend much time thinking about whether this could be the story that attracts the biggest audience for the advertisers. My boss might, the accountants might, but most journalists I know don't. In fact, I've met bloggers far more concerned about how many hits something will get -- in part because it's a lot easier to measure immediately. As far as the pitch goes, if you win me over, you're probably in pretty good shape. (But maybe I just charm my bosses better than most.)
  • Excellent post. You pretty much covered it all. Nice nod to the role of blogger communities (twitter, ning, etc.) The scalability of the medium is pretty important. I'm not sure too many companies understand that yet.
  • Sam Fletcher
    @chris Great stuff here. For someone just starting out in the PR biz, but knowledgeable about social media, this is valuable reading.

    One observation - PR people who don't deal with social media regularly have no idea how to approach bloggers and are generally apprehensive towards the medium. Not really surprising, but still somewhat startling when you think about how much information they are missing out on.
  • geo
    how did i get in that picture :-)


    fyi my shirt says

    We Will Not be silent


    g-oh
  • Ben Greenberg
    Just came to check this post out on Beth Kanter's recommendation. Really excellent. Do you think your overview of pitching to bloggers is the same for political bloggers as it is for tech bloggers? I know political blogging might not be your bailiwick, but I think how to pitch to political bloggers would be of interest to a lot of your readers from the nonprofit sector.
  • I found you via Adversity Univeristy Blog, Stephen put up the blogroll of attendess at SOBCon08. I was moved to post because when you talk about passion, I'm finding this to be so interesting on how we can drive our blogs by passion.

    I have quite a niche, my passion is minority of the Deaf community. CODA, which means (hearing) children of deaf adults. I can't believe how creative I can be in the blog and have now just begun my journey. I am so moved here, I hope to learn more from you.

    As far as using some new media for blogs, I've got one I'm testing and when it works out, it'll be so fun, I'll go back to your last ten posts before presenting the idea.

    Thanks for letting me share here.
  • Hi Chris,

    I like your post.

    I'm both a blogger and a mainstream journalist. Many reporters nowadays write or contribute to daily blogs, create their own video stories (I've done a handful) and write articles for the Web and the paper product. Some journalists also produce regular podcasts. An NPR commentor recently called journalists "the steelworkers of the 21st century." That's because we must produce content for multiple platforms, report and write original articles and tell good stories. And we watch as thousands of traditional journalism jobs go away. Although we get paid peanuts for what we do compared to PR people, I venture we still make a lot more than most bloggers. (I recently read about the ValleyWag bloggers getting paid for the popularity of their posts, which can lead to sensationalism. They also work in an uncertain environment where pay changes every quarter.) (I also read the NYTimes front page story about bloggers dropping dead from heart attacks because of the constant demand to feed the beast online.)

    Despite some of the problems in both mediums, I believe excellent bloggers and journalists exist online. I read more and more blogs these days in addition to newspapers and magazines. Many traditional reporters, like myself, find this an extremely exciting time filled with endless opportunities.

    Social media, done right, brings us closer to the community we cover and provides richer and better stories.
  • As a student in public relations, I've had entire class periods devoted to the "art" of pitching mainstream press, and I am just now learning about how to pitch bloggers. I am curious about which you think is more valuable, since many blog posts are written in response to news articles.
  • Thanks for this guidance. I just summarized a post that included your advice and others. This is the new pitchmeme era!

    http://tinyurl.com/5exv6o
  • You mentioned that you are interested in Non-profit social media success stories. This is a story in the making. Would you help make it a success? Help Burma Now!
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post: The Pirates Dilemma

Next post: What Were Your First Steps