If you still aren’t convinced that bloggers are influential, or that they aren’t very well-respected, listen up.
The Associated Press is partnering with the Media Bloggers Association to distribute its members’ coverage of the trial of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, to the news organization’s websites.
The bloggers group will have two seats at the Libby trial, which starts today, and 12 member bloggers will share the seats on a rotating basis.
Some members of the newspaper industry, which has been shell-shocked because of declining circulation and staff layoffs, are finally viewing bloggers not as competition, but as business partners. Thousands of newspapers are memebers of the Associated Press wire service.
Make this the year you finally add bloggers to your list of media contacts and let them create publicity for you. Unlike journalists, bloggers love to link to each other. So if just one influential blogger mentions your product or service, the news can spread from one blog to the next just a few minutes.
During the teleseminar I conducted several months ago with Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff called “How to Pitch the Best bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion,” we stressed that it’s often best to get a blogger’s attention not with a pitch, but by posting a comment to their blog. I blogged about joining the conversation yesterday.
I like how you state that newspapers and bloggers can become partners.
It ties in with “crowd sourcing” where MSM outlets enlist the voluntary help of bloggers and the public in general to help snoop around and investigate things.
Your articles on web site and blog are very well written and educational.
thin Q