Apparently “blogger” means that you get paid for the stuff you publish. So, is there a name for people who write/publish stuff online and don’t get paid?
@jemostrom @adoran2 First I’ve heard of it. I can think of many bloggers who are probably not getting paid.
@jemostrom That has never been the definition of blogger. Where did you see it? Dave Winer's long standing definition of blogging was the unedited voice of a person. No mention of money at all.
@jemostrom Nah, I think "blogger" applies whether or not you get paid 😛 For the people who really want to emphasise that it's their job, I've heard the term "professional blogger".
@adoran2 @artkavanagh @Ron @jayeless The reason I started to think about this today - it's something I have thought many times before - was the post "Asking, Giving And Blogging" which kind of assume that if you're blogging you should get paid (I might over-interpret this). But also ads from for example WordPress.com that is all about selling, getting readers, and in some way getting payed for having a web site.
Note, I have nothing against people making money of their writing (or whatever) but I find it strange that there seems to be some kind of assumption that you should get paid as soon as you write something. And yes, there are people/sites I can see myself paying for, and I do, but having this underlaying assumption that as soon as you post something online you should get paid ... well, I think it's giving some people false hope.
I don't expect to make anything on what I've put up on my sites, in fact I don't expect anyone to see, read or spend energy on what I publish. It's a fun bonus when I see a reaction or that people visit my web site but I don't take it for granted or even expect it.
For me the word "blogger" mean that someone has a place to publish stuff, to me it has no deeper meaning that that. For people getting paid ... well, perhaps "professional blogger" 😋 although to me that suggest that the person in question has a somewhat "inflated ego".
@jemostrom if you are not getting directly paid, it is called content marketing 🙃. I've been lately tried to formulate why Medium annoys me so much and I think it must be somehow related to trying to extract money before demonstrating value properly to reader
@tkoola 😁. Yeah, there is something with Medium that didn't feel right (I was a payed subscriber when it launched ... for one year) but I was never able to put my finger on it.
@jemostrom Your inclination to use the Internet for non-commercial purposes was how it all started. When I published my first Dylan bibliography in May 1994, any attempt to make money with the Internet would get you kicked off the net! But that all changed in 1995 & many things have been getting progressively worse since then, culminating so far in the worst ever year of 2020.
@Ron Yep, the first internet platforms I used was in 1984-85 (possible 1983) sometime and I can guarantee that the "chat"-service I used (I don't remember if it was talk, write or wall) was ad-free 😜.
I don't mind that people who "deserves" it get some kind of kickback, for example if I had been interested in music I would probably payed for your Dylan bibliography. My problem is with the people who keep expecting to get money without showing that their content has value, or with people who get other people to think that as soon as you have a web site you will get money.
@jemostrom My opinion is that there a confluence between the act of blogging and the use of blogging platforms. A blogger is a person who writes about the web on the web, literally a web-logger. My personal opinion is that a blogger is not "professional" doing so with the specific purpose of making money. That being said, many people have used blog platforms to produce and monetize web content and claim their are bloggers, but really only are because they are using a blogging platform. BTW, I may be picky, but I think writing and publishing content to the web that does not contain hyperlinks is another instance of using a blog platform for something other than blogging. I know this is just my opinion and likely a monitority one at that.
@frankm Interesting, how do you classify a person like me? Have no intention to make any money, doesn't write much about web stuff, sometimes have links to other places, sometimes no links.
@frankm For me "blogger" comes from "web log" which in my mind was basically a diary on a web site (I probably wrote my first page on my own domain in -92)
@jemostrom I would say you are a blogger. In the end it’s more about intent. And I realize my last comment about not using links is too extreme. Ideally, I think a blogger tries to find and include hyperlinks in their writing, which integrates what they write with the web. For me, a site that has all its articles with no hyperlinks in it is a publishing platform more akin to a magazine or newspaper that wants to keep you on the site. I hope this is coming across as I intend, the topic is a bit nuanced, in my opinion.
There is nothing wrong about using a blogging platform for publishing writing, or even for making money. It’s not either or, rather both and, but differences that do exist, and I do think those who do it all for the money are not true to the blogging ethos.
Sites like Engadget and The Verge may have used blogging platforms and called themselves blogs, but I have always viewed them simply as web sites.
@frankm I am with you on this one. The first time I heard the word weblog (no the radio) around 1997, is was described as a public register of interesting webs you found. In that sense, link blogs are the original blogs.
@jemostrom Maybe it’s a generational thing. Metafilter and the book We Blog got me into it, and writing and connecting was (and still is) its own reward. I remember in the early 2000s lots of people being involved in SEO and ‘fake’ sites to generate clicks; perhaps blogs are now seen by most as part of a broader strategy to sell something.
@jemostrom Yup, “blogger” and “blog” of become general terms that for me have become meaningless. I’ve seen people on Instagram call their profile their blog and posting to Instagram as blogging. I am as personally annoyed by that as when the term “influencer is used, but it is pointless to say anything about it. However, I do wish to advocate people put hyperlinks in their writing in the web. I find it really hostile to users when someone writes about something in the web and then doesn’t link to that thing, or worse links to some search term on their own site that isn’t even what they are writing about.
@jemostrom I keep having a similar conversation with my partner – he keeps making comments like "I can't wait until that blog of yours starts getting the money rolling in" and I don't know how to explain to him, in a way he'll listen to, that I'm not selling anything and making no money off this blog at all 😂 I think my attitude to the whole thing is very similar to yours.