A term frequently used in digital PR circles is ‘blogger engagement’. Although many blogs are a form of participatory journalism they tend regard themselves as different from mainstream journalism. Some bloggers are in fact journalists who see blogging as a channel for communicationg their views and opinions directly to the audience without editorial interference.
There has been much debate in PR circles as to whether bloggers are the new journalists. Personally I think it is interesting that many of the people that say blogging is not journalism also say that digital PR is more or less the same as old style public relations. Neither is wholly true.
There are thousands of bloggers and most have little relevance or influence. For many of these people if it is simply about the pleasure and excitement of being able to self publish. For those that operating at the apex of the pyramid I believe that the similarity between what they do and what a good journalist does bears a great deal of scrutiny.
But as author and blogger David Meerman Scott says “Bloggers are not the same as journalists. We don’t have editors telling us what to do. We write about what interests us and we are always on the lookout for things to share. But it is not our job to write about you and your stuff.”
PR and the Social Web 