8.28.2006

Bloggers for Hire (Why do we blog?? updated)

Ya'll...there's new comments added ter the old in heah --on bloggin' these days...

Some of those new comments sent me searchin' on the serious matter of bloggers fer hire--gag. What does that mean to the social phenomena of bloggin' iffin' it is co-opted fer business and political manipulatin'?
Here's some stuff I found:

http://www.bulldogreporter.com/dailydog/issues/1_1/dailydog_media_news/2531-1.html

http://news.com.com/2061-10802_3-5761181.html

http://seems2shel.typepad.com/itseemstome/2004/09/blogger_for_hir.html

http://performancing.com/node/3593



Original post:

Mary Mahr-tha dropped in this mornin', declined mah offer of coffee, but nibbled on the remains of the bacon. "I got sompin' fer ya' " she said as she plopped a book on the table I'se tryin' to clear. "It's about that bloggin' thang youse doin' these days."

MM is peeved, I reckon, since I does not come out to play like I did afore I got these blogs to nurse along.

The title of the book is Watching the Watch Dogs:Bloggers as the Fifth Estate.
Steve Cooper wrote it and it is a serious study of the cultural phenomenon of us'uns...er, that'd be us bloggers.

'Course I ain't read it yet, but I mean ter git at real soon. Them academics is lookin' at us like bugs on pins. They sees that bloggers have power to drive the cultural memes, to guide debate on politics, ter rally troops ter the cause and ...and..heh heh..to keep the fourth estate (media) honest when they make-up stories (Rathergate) or slip us'uns a fake photo ter git public emotions all riled up.

But one thang of note is that as ususal them scholars is categorizin' us'uns right off:

Some folks blog fer their real companies and it is they job, (fifty two new ways to use ABC Widgets), some do it fer company to be social like, some is jes' needin' to emote to the world and the blogosphere is whar' they can do it and nobody can tell 'em ter shut-up, some is lookin' fer love in all the wrong (hopin' fer right) places, some is lookin' fer victims, some is ventin' they spleen on issues, some is hopin' ter find a way ter make money from it (by gittin' high traffic and then runnin' ads) but some is jes' havin' fun...a cyber reach out and touch someone who will agree wif ya', or, iffin' ya likes a tangle, argy wif' ya'.

Soon them psychologizers will git they teeth in us too--they will tell us bloggin' is escapism, or no, it is a healthy outlet, or no, it is the final frontier for the collective human consciousness.

Uncle says iffin' men would jes' go ter the barber shop (no women allowed) and the fish camp whar' they could talk ter they buddies the blogosphere would deflate like a day old balloon.

I doesn't thaink so. I'se bloggin 'cause, like Alice, I finds it very curious and curiouser. Ain't no tellin' what may happen.

Why does ya'll blog?

20 comments:

Mr Q said...

Good post. Why do I blog?
- Because I have not been caught.
- Because it relieves stress.
- Because it is free and freeing.
- Because I like the attention.
- Because I like to piss people off
- Because I express my real self.
- Because there are good people that I thought did not exist.

- Because I can comply with regulations.

- Because I mean no harm to anyone.
- Because some chicks dig me.
- Because I dig some chicks.
- Because I found friends and friends found me.
- Because I am learning from really intelligent people.
- Because I laugh at some idiotic people.
- Because sometimes i am asked to.
- Because I believe in sharing what is free.
- Because I get paid to.
- Because I could get fired (literally) for doing so.
- Because I want some people to read what I write 20 years from now.
- Because I feel good and make others feel good too.

-Because I don't know why I blog, I just do.

sparringK9 said...

/bark bark bark

i blog because the format allows for creative exploration in both image and words. because of commentary and my responses to others blogs, its also a collaborative and fluid art form. i see it is an extension of the path of artistic inquiriy im already on

/grrrrrr

sparringK9 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Aunty Belle said...

Hey Mr. Q...what a fun answer! All those are jes' dandy reasons fer bloggin'...one thang I never thought of is that some one might read it in 20 years--whoa!!

Hidy Pup...yes! A new form of art, visual, literary (poems, rap?) and as ya' say, fluid.

But ya'll, does ya have other blog buddies --whole other neihborhoods whar' the experience is different?

Bird said...

now don't get upset with the scholars and psychologists - they are merely trying to describe this phenonmena (can't spell that word).

blogs, blogging,bloggers - wowswers - what a goldmine for ethnographic, cultural, psychologicaly study. i study it myself, and have written my observations and musings about it in ...not my blog, but my journal - the one i write in by hand. scribblings from there sometimes turn into blogs,or poems, or essays, or sometimes don't.

but i disagree with you ab - i don't thiink the blogging world really has that much power over the media. i think this world is just as manipulated by the media as any other.

On My Watch said...

boredom mostly, and to see if anyone out there got my jokes. :)

but after I started, turned out to be fun to read other people's stuff and get *heated* every now and then.

it's kind of like a block party without the block.

Aunty Belle said...

Bird Jewel of the Air, hidy-do.

Sugar, Aunty mayhap AGREE wif' ya'....it is shure worth a study--I is sorta thinkin' that too. So hep me--how does ya' think the media is mnipulatin' us'uns in the blog world? Or, does ya' mean they manipulate the impact of bloggers?

OnMyWatch, boredom morphs to a block party--yeah!!

Recently I'se been really poking around in blogs fer fer out from my ususal circuit..whoo eee! They's some WEIRD stuff, some solid academic sites, some fun and gun shoot-'em'up sites...then I get overloaded and git back ter rockin in mah chair and readin' a good book.

Bird said...

i fear i've become quite addicted. i periodically range far and wide - find stuff that scares the bejezes out of me, stuff that makes me marvel, stuff that thrills me with its beauty, and stuff that bores me horribly. hahahaha!

we are influenced by the media simply because we read it/watch it. i think we're also influenced by the sway of one another's words, sometimes without checking out the facts. and i think the medium itself -because it is so freewheelin' provides a sort of inherent bias in its structure and content. and there is much information and misinformation on all our blogs - it's hard to tell what's what sometimes.

i do like the personal (or, well, psuedo-personal feel to it all. i;m sure i've read this simile i'm about to use somewhere else -so it's not mine, but the blogging world is a bit like the village well - where everyone gathers for a bit, shares tidbits of info, and that goes back about their business. but it's not a real well, and the relationships are between personas and incomplete. and yet, i've grown very attached to many a blogger and many a blog.

strange world we live in, eh?

Aunty Belle said...

Yep, Bird Beauty, it is a strange world, thank heavens--no chance fer boredom.

An' I'se hearin' ya---attached ter soem bloggers (er, that is their personas). I does wonder iffin' I'd be real stunned iffin' I'se to meet 'em in the flesh--I 'spect we'd all git some jolts...ho ho! (well. it is CREATIVE ter be another persona)

Malinda777 said...

I tell my husband (who's at the fishin' hole with Uncle) that my "evil twin" comes here to play.

But I come here to let my intellectual side express. AND YOU'RE RIGHT... BLOGGERS ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE.

Somehow through blogging, right or wrong... this nation is now becoming again... WE THE PEOPLE.

That scares the HELL out of those folks in the "powers that be" that thought we all just go about our business and pay no attention to WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON.

Blog on folks... it may be the tool to survival :)

Aunty Belle said...

hey ya'll--somebody said this weekend that one thang thas' attrative
'bout bloggin' is the fact that it is elective--ya' gits ter choose who ya visit wif', who to argy wif', what folks to git ter know , or reveal ya'self to--this is not like RF (real life) whar' ya' has to git along wif yore neighbors or co-workers. In cyberspace ya' chooses yore neighbor.

What do ya'll think of that? The elective-ness of it? Not sure I buys it...after all, I elects most of my social encounters, yetthere may be sompin' to it.

An' what of Malinda's comment on boggers being glue fer holding "we the people" together?

Malinda! Yore hubby and Uncle will be happy as shoats in the sunshine.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Belle,


Cast careful eye over blogosphere: veracity of MSM is checked, but what of veracity of bloggers-for-hire? Gunslinging multiple identity drones paid to create a meme on a topic, thus giving it critical weight for public discovery by the pollsters & pundits.

Aunty Belle said...

Mr. Uri, thas' MRS. not MS.

Aunty doan hols wif' no feminist silliness.

But I takes yore meaning on bloggin' and googled the idea and found fearful thangs. From that socialist rag, New Statesman, this article on how the horrors of big bidness done grabbed onto the bloggin' craze and used it fer promotion.
www.newstatesman.com/200608280034

(Wonder if Uncle Aloyisus oughta set up Pork Rind feedback site?)

Anyway, folks...lots of others is disgusted wif' how so may blogs is now nuthin' but a host for the parasite advertisements ya find alongside or as pop up.

How will the blogosphere protect the
regular folks who jes' wanna' have some say?

Aunty Belle said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bird said...

AB:
"professional" bloggers have been active for a long time. so have "commerical" blogs.

this gets down to credibilty of the blog and source and developing literacy.

not talkin' readin' and writin' - literacy is much more than that - R&W is the base, but critical thinking is part of it - and developing computer and media literacy is important (and blogging is part of the media).

this is an interesting question and one i've been pondering for a while.

i want to develop unit for my course that looks at blogging, the community, what it means and is , etc. haven't figured it all out yet, but you have done some of my homework for me with the links you provided and the book you mentioned. i'm just compiling potential readings for now - have to mull this all over for quite a time before i can shape it into a manageable unit for students.

regards,
MS Bird (roflol)it ain't so silly to be me - ms merely denotes that my identity is separate from my marital status (and always has been). however, no problem with thems that wish to include that identiy in their public persona (mrs.)

Bird said...

ps - don't see men idenitfying themselves by their marital status in their "titles".... why shouldwomen?

just a thought - a question.

..................... said...

right now it seems like i'm blogging out of habit. a habit i'm surprised to still have after a year.
i do also blog because it is a form of stress relieve and to a certain extent a creative outlet. ...and i blog to keep in touch with my small bloggin community.

Aunty Belle said...

Bird Jewel of the Air,
Ok...that unit in yore pedagogic endeavors mayhap be real cuttin' edge. Students will shure be fascinated. Sorta wish't that there were some way ter note what was jes' bloggin' and what were advertisin' in blog form--worse tho, is the idea of stealth bloggin'. Meanin' that some folks out there is loggin' blog hours to create a buzz fer some product or person....like paid yakkers to hype a movie, but'cha doan KNOW theys shillin'. T'ain't ethicical.

Sweet Schaumi! HEy puddin'....uh huh...me too--I'se discovered that bloggin' is a fair means of stress relie (on FRONT porch anyhow).

But also, what of the yore community idea? I mean, well, I'se been samplin' blogs, roamin' over the blogmos--some is communal, some is more like a forum, others is non-personal in that they merely exchange info dressed up wif' a bit of opinion, but not really seekin' a response. What have you noticed as models of blog communities? What makes some hang togetherdespite vast differences in opinions?

Aunty Belle said...

Looky here ya'll--an example of what I means about creating a buzz fer the purpose of directing attention ter somepin';

" To counteract the effects the ABC 9-11 movie could have on the midterm elections, I recommend this course of action:

The night of, and the morning after, people will be hitting the internet looking for information on the events as depicted in this movie.

Our biggest opportunity will be to have nearly identical blog posts waiting, then submit them to be found internet wide the morning after the movie. Google and Technorati will pick up on these posts quickly. We can make these entries dominate the first several pages of the search engines.

MAKE SURE THE POST TITLE HAS THE TITLE OF THE MOVIE IN IT!

Get every Democratic friendly blog on board as possible... you e-mail the ones you know, they'll e-mail the ones they know, etc. Make SURE these blogs are on the Technorati network and have also been submitted to Google's blog search.

For one day, change the title of your blog to the title of the movie.

Agree on a clear, detailed, and sourced body of information -- I've seen several examples on DU lately disputing what is in the movie. Media Matters has one. One was posted today on DU by Richard Clarke.

Everyone post it. Right after the movie is over or the next morning at the latest. MAKE SURE THE POST TITLE HAS THE TITLE OF THE MOVIE IN IT! "

(this taken from a clip on MicheleMalkin.com)

Anonymous said...

So your search did not turn up www.bloggersforhire.com ?? I must be slipping in the SEO area.