If someone blogs, are they influential? Or are they likely to blog (and actually get a decent readership) because they happen to be influential?
The term Blogosphere has become so prevalent that no one questions what it is. It isn’t a place or even just a website. It is a collection of online “conversation locations.” Blogs are written by single individuals or by a collective of individuals writing in the same “location” around a central topic. The terms “blogosphere,” “blog,” and “bloggers” have become so normalized in our Internet lexicon that no one seems to be thinking twice about it. And in the marketing/PR world we are getting awfully loose with throwing around terms like “blogger relations” and “blogger outreach.” (ok, too many quote marks–I’m feeling dizzy!)
But consider this… Is there really such an audience as bloggers? Or, are their individuals with particular backgrounds and expertise who are deemed influential and one of the ways their influence manifests itself is through a blog they happen to write?
Sorry if this throws a monkey wrench in anyone’s thinking, but I believe the later. I believe there are certain people that have a drive to share their views and opinions and some of those people have knowledge, experience or insight that prompt others to pay attention. Think of the influential individuals who have always been around the business world. Remember EF Hutton? When he talked, people listened (or at least their commercial said so.) Before the blogosphere showed up, people still listed to influential people–it just took more effort and it wasn’t as easy to join the conversation. Then, influencers shared their thoughts by writing contributed articles or whitepapers. Many of them would speak at industry conferences or give speeches at other venues. Commonly, influencers were the analysts and press who had audiences waiting for the info. Blog and other online technology has simply given more people the opportunity to make their voice heard.
So, I maintain that there have always been influencers and they’ve always been talking and people have been listening for much longer than the blogosphere has been around. The technology did not make these people influential, it simply gave them another means by which to share info.
Thus… someone is influential, therefore they might also be bloggers.
