Storytelling, not journalism, spurs most blogs
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many people see Web journals or "blogs" as alternatives to the mainstream media, but most Americans who run them do so as a hobby rather than a vocation, according to a report released on Wednesday.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Pew Internet report Reuters covers puts numbers on a question the trade press had been arguing all year: six months after AdAge insisted a blogger is just a writer with a cooler name, the data says most American bloggers are hobbyists telling stories, not journalists — and only a minority treat it as a vocation. That sharpens the tension the New York Times flagged in November 2005, when corporate ad money flowing to bloggers put their rebel credibility at risk.
Reuters has skin in this game: it launched a pilot in December 2005 letting blogs and other online publishers redistribute its news video, so a wire service measuring how many of its would-be distributors are amateurs helps size that opportunity. The story traveled widely for a survey release, with Pew's own site and Publishing 2.0 — reading the same data as roughly three million bloggers looking to make money — picking it up the same week.
First-order effects
- The 'blogs as an alternative to mainstream media' framing takes a demographic hit: the money-seeking minority Publishing 2.0 counts out of the report is now visibly distinct from a hobbyist majority, changing who the medium is argued to speak for.
- Reuters' news-video redistribution pilot now has a defined audience profile — mostly amateur publishers — which shapes how far that syndication channel actually reaches.
Second-order effects
- Ad networks and brands following corporate money into blogging have to segment their pitch: monetization tools and sponsorships address a thin vocational layer, not the hobbyist base the report describes.
- Mainstream outlets gain cover to treat most blogs as distribution partners or audience rather than competition — the posture Reuters itself models with its redistribution pilot.
Third-order effects
- If the hobbyist-majority pattern holds, the industry argument shifts from 'blogs versus journalism' to drawing the boundary around the few vocational bloggers — who counts as press, and on what sourcing norms and advertiser trust depend.
The trend: Blogging in 2006 is splitting from a single citizen-media category into a hobbyist majority topped by a thin commercial layer, forcing publishers and advertisers to decide who counts as press.