All Blogs are NOT Social Media

Media is often divided into mainstream media (newspapers, magazines, broadcast) and social media. The term “social media” is defined as online media used by the public in a social way and includes social networks, message boards/forums, video/audio/photo/tagging sharing sites, and wikis. Many media “experts” are incorrectly including blogs with social media.

All blogs are NOT social media. Blogs stand alone as a separate media type.
Why is this important? It is important because more people are talking about social media and often misunderstanding it by mixing all the types of social media together, including blogs. This also should be a concern for company’s who want to monitor, measure and analyze social media. They want to know what people are saying about their company or brand and they look to social media.

Basically, blogs are easily created websites that are maintained by individuals, news organizations or businesses. They contain commentary or news on a particular subject. They often combine text, images and links to other web pages. Many blogs allow the public to comment, thus participate in the conversation. The popular site Twitter is not a blog but rather a blend of microblog (limited to 140 characters) and social network (Twitter allows users to follow others and have followers).

Some blogs are part of mainstream media. Mainstream media can exist online and is not limited to paper versions of newspapers or magazines. Mainstream media can have a social media component and often allows letters and comments; broadcast media includes “talk” radio.

Blogs already stand alone as a separate media type. The leading blog search engine Technorati.com indexes millions of blog posts and separates blogs from social media sites. Some say that blogs contain a social intrinsic element because they allow comments. This only exists minimally and only some blogs allow the public to comment. With most blogs, comments are scarce and often moderated (censored).

Most social media – including social networks and excluding blogs:
• Is almost all opinion. It can be opinionated news, opinioned reviews or opinionated conversation. If we want opinion and conversation then this is the place to look. It we want accurate facts, knowledge and (unbiased) news, we many look at other sources such as blogs or mainstream media.
• Is not journalism. Journalism is presumed to be balanced, objective, factual and is often sponsored by reputable organizations or written by journalists who uphold professional standards. Journalists are usually paid and could lose their jobs and credibility if what they write is knowingly untrue, highly biased or poor quality.

There are many quality blogs and bloggers in the blogosphere. Here are a few brief comments on blogs:
• Learn more about blogs and bloggers and understand their perspectives. Some bloggers are consultants, market experts, ghostwriters, or strictly marketing a service or product. Some bloggers are truly experts or professional journalists and provide useful information with references. Much of the time bloggers are talking about what they read in mainstream media.
• Bloggers may or may not have much credibility. Some bloggers may pay close attention to what they write and are respected for their trustworthiness. Other bloggers may not be careful with what they write, may not check facts, may work too fast, may provide links to inaccurate sources, and may not blog with honest integrity. Readers must pay attention.
• All blogs are not equal in importance. Readership may be zero or in the thousands. Some blogs have no influence at all; some have much influence and reach a very particular audience.

I will conclude with some interesting facts about bloggers, according to Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2009 (October 2009): Bloggers are mostly male and more affluent and educated than the general population. They usually blog for one of these reasons: speaking one’s mind; sharing expertise and experiences with family and friends (old and new); and making money or doing business. Leading blog topics consist of personal musings, politics and business. About one-third of bloggers actually have worked within traditional media as a writer or reporter.

Steven Maimes is an independent researcher, media analyst and writer.

Addendum: All blogs are not social media. Some blogs can be considered part of social media and some blogs can be considered part of mainstream media. In discussion, it would be easier to allow blogs to stand alone as a separate media type: blogs.