Blogging about the cricket

We are a masochistic lot here at the EBU. Every few months, several of us volunteer to keep co-workers away from their lunch for 30 minutes while we brief them on a topic of special interest. Next Wednesday, I will share the floor with my colleagues David Wood and Nicoletta Iacobacci to talk about blogging.

The plan is that David will explain how member organizations do it, Nicoletta will provide some examples of successful media blogs and I will say a few words about why broadcasters are bothering.

The first point I will make is that our Radio and TV Members approach blogging in different ways because of the diverse natures of their media. TV is a “sit back medium” that requires the complete attention of its audience, while radio allows people to do other things, such as surfing the blogosphere, while they listen.

I heard a good example of this at a recent conference in Copenhagen. BBC Radio Five Live’s Brett Spencer told delegates how a rather large insect had gate crashed a commentary position during last year's Cricket World Cup, in Guyana.

One of the commentators told listeners he had taken a picture of the creepy-crawly with his mobile phone and was uploading it onto a BBC blog. He invited budding entomologists to visit the blog and advise the commentary team whether or not they needed to worry about the six-legged intruder.

Many people took up the invitation and posted comments on the blog while continuing to follow the cricket (the game, not the insect) on the radio. The match commentary was interspersed with remarks about the alarming entomological advice that was arriving on the weblog.

That level of “sit up interactivity” would be more difficult to achieve on a TV show. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s not really what the telly is about.

In its way, Brett’s cricket story also illustrates what Jay Rosen calls "users know more than we do" journalism. The idea is that if members of an audience have expert knowledge in a particular field, it can be exploited to enrich programme content.

Blogs bring audiences closer to presenters, journalists and other programme-makers, which not only builds brand loyalty, but also makes public service broadcasters more accountable.

Comments

[ipl cricket score]

Hey that anecdote was great. It's just goes to show how much better radio is compared to TV. The old world charm of listening is lost in the current commericial world of TV. Sorry I digress.

[Mike]

It is always difficult to know how to pitch these things. Sorry.

I prefer to talk about building communities rather than creating ghettos. The aim would be to nurture that community and make it grow bigger.

The graph that I showed at the start of my presentation suggests that the BBC Blogs Network has nearly 4 million unique visitors every month. I always take unique visitor stats with a pinch of salt, but that's quite a sizeable audience.

I agree that sustainability is the most important part of any blogging strategy. You shouldn't do it unless you have the resources.

You'll find more about blogging strategies at http://www.bivingsreport.com/2007/16-ways-the-news-media-can-use-blogs/ and in The Washington Post Blogging Guidelines, under 'Links' in the left-hand column of this page.

[Eoghan]

Enjoyed the briefing today Michael - I suppose I didn't learn much that I didn't know before (other than the fact that you have a blog!), but it's always good to step back and consider the bigger picture.

One thought that struck me during the presentations was the question of how a broadcaster can prevent its blog from becoming an expensive "ghetto". What I'm suggesting is that a blog might attract a very small group of people that comment very regularly, and a slightly larger group that visit from time to time and read the posts and comments, but overall just a tiny fraction of the broadcaster's audience in general. Is the time of presenters, producers, journalists, etc... being efficiently used in this case, serving such a small portion of their usual audience? And once a ("corporate") blog has been set up, it needs to be properly resourced.

(I'm sure there are many examples that would set my mind at rest, but I do think it's something a broadcaster, in particular, should consider. The BBC is rather unique in the world of broadcasters...)