Do you have to be the first with the news on your blog?
I talked to several bloggers at the recent WordCamp Dallas who told me that their hardest task with their blogs was being the first out with the news.
While living for many years in the Middle East, I learned to appreciate the top of the hour when all the cabbies and store owners would crank up the volume on their ubiquitous radios to hear the three to five minute news broadcast. I, too, learned to hover near my radio at the top of the hour so I would know what was happening, where I shouldn’t travel, and how I would plan my day around the events and activities I heard on the news.
For us, our daily activities were structured around what we heard on the news. It dictated our lives right down to the smallest detail as whether or not I would buy groceries at the huge open market or go to the local grocery store and pay twice as much.
Few news reports impact lives so greatly, and much of what many people call “news” isn’t news but entertainment – infotainment as some call it. It doesn’t impact nor change the very structure of our day to day lives.
I waited until the top of the hour. Some bloggers can’t wait that long. They just want to be first out the door in the battle for link fame and trackbacks. If you are a publisher of news, in any form, being first out of the door can impact your bottom line.
Do you need to be first? Why?
In my presentation at WordCamp 2007 on blog content and development, I stunned the audience by telling them that unless they can honestly be the first out with the news, it is better to be one of the ones who digests and processes the news before hitting the publish button as then they will have something to add to the blog conversation rather than regurgitating the old news.
For many, this was a new thought. I want you to think about how important it is for you to be first with the news on your blog. Why?
