Last night I accidentally came across a news story I had actually intended to watch. It was about blogging and how to make money off of it. After watching it on FOX 9 (KMSP) last night I came away with a bit of information but a bit more bewilderment, too. Was the approximately ten-minute segment actually about blogging and what bloggers do to make cash from their writing or was it about a reporter at the TV station entering the blogosphere in an already crowded topic (mommy blogging) and putting entirely too much in the way of resources in to her effort? I am well aware of having a polished launch regardless of who may or may not be paying attention but she hired a professional photographer to take photos of her and her kids. Sure, she probably expensed it out from the station as part of the story but doesn't that cross some sort of line when it benefits you on a personal level?
The longer I watched it, the more I came to realize that Trish Van Pilsum's story was getting annoying. From the repetitive music clip (the same ten or twenty-second clip of a Postal Service song) used to the oh-so-poignant story of her dilemma of finding the proper domain name on Blogger, it was speeding down the road from mildly informative to blatant self-promotion.
I give Trish's little blogging endeavor a few months at best before she gives up on regular updates. If it's anything like most news organization's staff blogs, it will be boring and end up withering on the vine with scant few watching the death. Sure, some media staffers are extremely good at regular blogging. Those, though, are few and far between and they are damn good at what they do and follow the rules of connecting with readers/viewers and have a personality that stands out from the herd. That is where WCCO shines and KMSP fails. It helps a great deal to have that instant name recognition but, again, a personality seals the deal. Sorry Trish Van Pilsum, you have the personality of an apathetic waitress at a restaurant offering nothing but slow service and cold Campbell's condensed soup.
Your story could have been compelling but instead you opened the door to a thousand or so wannabe mommy bloggers who are all geared up to hit the big time today but will realize in two months that blogging ain't that damn easy when you don't have a TV station willing to fork over ten minutes of air during their primetime news to promote their cute little mommy blog. They'll be even more disappointed and frustrated when they find out how much a quality photographer costs as they try to replicate the touch-feely nature of Van Pilsum's blog. A few will stick it out and evolve, finding their niche. I've been doing this almost five years and the first three sucked but I like it. I work in the media world to a certain extent so I know the battles and I witness them from across the hall each and every day and even I haven't cracked that secret code of "what works" in the world of online writing.
But I do know that MinnPics has a somewhat loyal following for some reason. Maybe because it has a ton of quality photos.
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