Blogs have become a credible information source for public consumption, threatening news outlets and prompting them to hop on the bandwagon. Most media outlets, large or small, now have blogs on their sites. Unlike a print publication, which requires research, writing, editing, fact-checking, layout, press check and finally, distributed copies, blogging transcends the traditional print production process and allows for the free flow of information at a much quicker pace. In fact, information can travel from the writer to the viewer in the blink of an eye.
Hence, it seems logical that real-time blogging would be the next widespread trend. From the Emmy Awards to Presidential press conferences, bloggers are posting commentary in real-time as current events unfold. The real-time blog phenomenon introduces an entire new dynamic to information technology and, on a more fundamental level, the way that the public receives and interprets that information. Real-time blogging is when bloggers post information as they are experiencing it, while they are at the event they are writing about.
Robin Good, an online publisher and new media communication expert that researches, writes and publishes on the effective use of new technologies, analyzed the results of real-time blogging during a one-hour conference to find the best tactics for presenting information as she herself was learning it. Good found that real-time blogging “extends the conversation channels that a conference naturally sparks and is absolutely the way to go. Real-time blogs may be a valuable addition to an already existing trend.” It requires a sharp, quick, multi-task approach in order to simultaneously pay adequate attention to the event while updating posts every two to three minutes.
Whereas news outlets or even blogs, as we commonly know them, seem passive for the reader; real-time blogs present a multi-dimensional, alternative channel and make the experience for the reader seem both more immediate and interactive.
As a business owner or manager, think of the possibilities! Real-time blogging can give a site the edge to steal traffic away from competitor outlets, while creating a two-way channel for information, providing visitors with an expert voice they can respond to, from which sites can then gather demographic data. In line with conferences and real-time blogging, Dave Winer, who has been reporting on web trends since 1994 feels that there are, “so many new ways of flowing ideas [that] become possible when the audience members have voices. They cease to be an audience in any recognizable sense.” This exchange of information creates an inclusive community, allowing the visitor to feel a part of the current event while the site maintains its expert opinion environment.
In a culture with an increasingly short attention span, real-time blogs allow visitors to get information like never before, as it unfolds in real life. The public can begin to analyze events before the stories even make it to the AP newswire. Can you imagine if this technology were around when events like Vietnam were unfolding? Perhaps it wouldn’t have taken years for the truth to be reported.
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