Jon Morrow has made an interesting (possibly inflammatory) assertion that the word “Blogger” is being construed as “loser” or “wannabe” over in hist post 11 Meanings for “Blogger” You May Have Never Noticed
Doesn’t the word “blogger” just refer to someone that “keeps a web log (blog)?” After all, that’s what the dictionary says. Not anymore.
Over time, the connotation of a word changes, and its meaning expands. In the case of blogging, it’s taking on an air of failure, almost like being called a musician or actor.
In those fields though, we’ve developed separate terms. We call successful musicians rock stars or pop stars. We call successful actors movie stars.
Certainly amongst bloggers this is not true. Bloggers use the dictionary definition I would say, after all that is the traditional meaning and we don’t think of ourselves as losers.
I do though think there are those in the mainstream media who love to propagate the idea of thousands of slackers in their underwear posting thoughts nobody cares about while sitting in their parents spare room.
When talking to larger corporate clients I don’t use the word blog until a representative of the company does, even though many leads come via my blog. It just confuses the situation, plus can actually serve to push your perceived value down. Outside of the web-savvy, in large companies the word “blog” is often mistakenly equated with ephemeral and throwaway. It’s thought of as a leisure activity, no more valid than the “content” from AOL chat rooms, just gossip and chatter with no lasting benefit. For those board room discussions I talk about “web publishing”, “viral content” and “articles”. I might talk about Social Media.
I don’t particularly think the phrase “pro blogger” can be used to distinguish between degrees of blogger either, for me the phrase (rightly or wrongly) describes someone who makes money out of blogging, or maybe Darren Rowse as an individual :)
Do you think “blogger” has a negative image outside of fellow bloggers? If bloggers have a tainted name what would we replace the word “blogger” with? Please share your thoughts in the comments …
