Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Thesis Going Strong

All of the research that I have found thus far has strongly supported my original idea that blogging has definitely impacted the print journalism industry. With all the ways for authors to interact personally and quickly with the readers, how could it not? I will continue to stick with this idea, as I have not found any evidence to downplay what my original thesis was.

Other Options

There are many other options that entrepreneurs have to market themselves. They can pass out business cards or fliers. They can interact with their intended audience. Or they could film a commercial or other ad, to be showed to mass viewers. However, a blog can do a few things that these other ways of marketing can not. With a blog, the entrepreneurs can update their information whenever they want, and they can more intimately interact with their readers and potential customers. The blog can also give a little more insight to what the entrepreneur is like as a person, and if the consumers want to interact with that kind of person. A blog is basically a way for consumers and businessmen to interact personally with one another, creating a strong bond that will aid in the business process.

Blogs are definitely an affective alternative to all of the other methods. They allow people to learn more about the business, at their own pace, and read updated information to track how the business is doing. The readers are constantly learning new things, while the other methods rarely change what they say. Overall, blogs are a great way for entrepreneurs to promote, interact, and conduct business.

Summaries of Sources

In the entrepreneurial blog by Matt Huggins, he outlines his aspirations, gives advice and tells about his projects. The big project that he is currently working on, and promoting through his blog, is an internet page titled “Black Book Singles.” It is an internet dating site that is free and easy to use. Matt Huggins blog is about more than just this one internet site, but he uses the resource of his blog to promote the project. Huggins also gives articles for advice on many things such as marketing, advertising, networking, and saving money. This advice causes people to join his blog to learn more things about what they could do about money. When they read the blog, they also see his projects, such as “Black Book Singles” and navigate to see what it is, giving the dating site more hits, and possibly more subscribers. Matt Huggins blog is a great way for people to learn, communicate, and explore.

The first internet source I found that discusses the use of blogging as business promotion comes is titled “Blogging is the most honest form of self-promotion out there...can corporations adjust?” and comes from the Silicon Valley Watcher. The article discusses how practically all commercial ventures will be affected or are already being affected by blogging. It states that blogging is about great journalism, and is truthful and fair, which attracts people to the blogs. This can then lead to people viewing the business promotions that are alongside the truthful stories. This source was short and a little hazy in its direction, but the main idea of truth that comes from it is what should really be focused on.

The second internet source is titled “How to Use a Blog for Non-Diarists” and comes from about.com. The article discusses why you should use a blog for business and how to do it. It states that even though a blog can be informal, the articles are often short, easy to read, and a little fun, which makes the masses more interested in reading these articles, rather than long and boring ones. The readers will be more likely to come back to read the short and fun articles, which establishes a reader base. Business blogs give businessmen a chance to be a little more personal, and show the consumers and readers that the businessmen are people, just like them. Some ways for businesses to use a blog to their advantage would be to place commonly asked questions and answers, to help alleviate the bulk of emails to the company email address. Games, upcoming events, and news are also ways of connecting the readers to the business. When the readers are excited and happy about the blog, and continually revisit the site, they are likely to see all of the business promotions and take part in what the business has to offer. This source gives a plethora of useful information that shows people how to use blogs for business, and how to relate to the readers. It is a very good source of information on blogs.

Monday, June 15, 2009

FOR!

Hello all, my name is Brittany Firth and I am a college student majoring in photojournalism.

I believe that blogging has definitely significantly impacted the print journalism industry. I believe this because it is a source for people to write what they want about a topic and to express their views. Then many other people read these blogs and use them to form their own ideas about topics and issues in the world. I have many friends who didn’t know much about a topic or have a particular opinion about it, and then they read blogs and used the ideas of the bloggers to establish their views.

These are my views now, and I believe that my view will stay the same. Although I do believe that the reasons for these beliefs and some more accurate research may change why I feel this way. I will have to just wait and see where the research I do and the course I am in take me.