blog vs print

Here's last week's Campaign piece.

Writing these pieces for Campaign after years of blogging has forced me to think about the relative characteristics of all this new-fangled digital stuff and good old-fashioned, grimy print. And I think the essential difference is this; digital may be flexible, conversational, speedy and cheap, but print still has this undeniable, irresistible weight and authority, an authority that's attractive to readers, advertisers and writers.

A good blog is conversational because it's porous, not just on the web, but of the web. The joy of writing one is that you don't have to explain everything, you can just link to it. If your reader wants to pursue that link she will, if she doesn't she can continue with you. The other great advantage is the way the possibility of feedback is built-in, and the real value often comes from the discussion in the comments, where your idea is really examined and refined. I suspect that's why most blog posts look so half-formed compared to print articles, they're not designed to be finished thoughts, they're offers of conversation, thought-starters, provocations. (Or at least that's what I tell myself every time I write a blog post that just dribbles to an inconclusive ending.) All that combined with the fast pace of the blogosphere and the minimal cost of entry makes it a buzzy, messy, democratic place where every good thought leads to a good conversation and every good conversation is global.

In contrast, print can often look stodgy, stale and slow, but despite that there's still something very compelling about it. And it's not just because this can be read on the loo. Partly it's because you always feel like you have to try and construct a decent argument here, make a point, explain something clearly and round it off with a snappy ending. We're not in a conversation, so I have some obligation to offer a complete idea. But the bigger difference is that the very limitations of the format help provide it's authority. There's only so much real estate available, magazines aren't cheap to make, or free to access, so editorial decisions have to be made; quality has to be determined, standards have to be set. Which means you don't get the meritocratic but mediocre sprawl of so many online publications.

These characteristics are worth thinking about when planning brand communications; it's not about costs per thousand it's about deciding whether you want to be discursive or authoritative, whether you want to start a conversation or make a case. And it's about realising that you should never promise a snappy ending if you haven't got one.

Comments

[Robin Grant]

I'm ashamed to admit, what with the whole wifi thing, I now read my laptop, which I'm sure at one point must have included you, Russell, on the loo...

[russell]

This is one of those occasions where you can have too much feedback.

[Andrew Simone]

Let us just say, Robin, that I would wager there are others who do the same.

[Jim]

Blogs, RSS and now Twitter make a virtue out of busy-ness. If you're not busy you are a loser - and our changing comms patterns reflect that insecurity.

We forget that busy and influential people have holidays too. There is joy in the glorious immersion and escapism of print and books.

[Sam]

Have to agree with Jim and Robin, there's psychological cachet attached with being too busy to read a blog proper. And books are still awesome on levels not really yet reached by computer/laptop screens.

Also for those who choose to, the satisfaction of writing, being it prose or otherwise, onto a plain white page and revisiting it later to see what your thoughts were at a particular time is (for me) unparalleled.

I feel vaguely coherent, so I shall now descend into psychobabble..

[Mrs Belmot]

Hello!

Did anyone read Jeremy Bullmore in Campaign HAMMERING blogging? I can't remember what his gripe was, but he seemed to think that blogs are rubbish, full of uneducated guesswork and innacurate nearly all of the time.

All I can say is that he's CLEARLY not reading the right blogs (mine is INVALUABLE).

Never stop blogging is also the 2nd of my ten "Golden Commandments" for planners:
http://mrsbelmot.blogspot.com/2007/02/floor-is-contemporary-and-rubbish.html

Come on, Bullmore! Join the 20th Century!

[George Parker]

I think the main difference when working for paper rather than the blogosphere (and yes we nearly all write on the computer anyway) is that as Russell points out, it drives you to clarify the logic and structure of what you write. sometimes when I look at what I have blogged after posting, I think, Christ did I write that crap? Somewhere in all my rubbish, I have an article from a PC Mag in the 80's written by Bill Gates where he claims that by the turn of the century (2000) paper will be a thing of the past, and the much vaunted "Paperless Office" will be a reality... Still waiting.
And as usual... Mrs Belmot nails it... One in the eye for Jeremy.
Cheers/George

[Asi]

OK I might be making too big a leap here but on a similar note, go and read this beautiful (albeit elitist) essay by Susan Sontag:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2035857,00.html