Blogging For Paychecks 187
prostoalex writes "When you hear about blogging, you're most likely to hear about personal journals, self-expression and youngsters sharing their daily routines online. However, as Wall Street Journal notes, the word blogger can now frequently be seen in corporate job ads. Blogging jobs pay anywhere from $40,000 to $70,000 and frequently require writing copy for corporate Web sites and ability to promote on the Internet. A search for blogger and blogging on one of the job meta search engines yields several hundred open positions."
Meh. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Meh. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What's the ROI? (Score:2)
I just read the business plan of a friend and it had every buzz word imaginable...
blog, podcasting, voip, social networks, blogrolls, text messaging, rss, photo rating, and SEO options in addition to forums and a variety of other things
and it was a stinkin' picture sharing site!
Re:What's the ROI? (Score:2, Insightful)
As such, a good blog with a good disguise might pull in big bucks for the Corp (by selling their products), provided they get enough people readin
Re:Meh. (Score:2)
Re:Meh. (Score:1)
Well, they would if it were their job, now wouldn't they?
Too bad I'm alergic to work there aren't enough showers in the world to wash off, and I rather doubt these jobs come with artistic control and pay or play contracts.
KFG
Re:Meh. (Score:2)
I think the word you're looking for is, "integrity". My sig is just a coincidence.
blogging=marketing? (Score:4, Interesting)
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Raydude
I never thought that I would ever see the day... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I never thought that I would ever see the day.. (Score:1, Insightful)
Welcome to 1997.
Re:blogging=marketing? (Score:1)
Re:blogging=marketing? (Score:1, Funny)
How are you going to survive in the computerized e-future if you can't even wrap your head around a simple Xoncept like blogging?
Re:blogging=marketing? (Score:1)
Blogging is good for society (Score:3, Insightful)
For the first time in the history of the world, we now have a direct channel for hyper-specialization. Blogs + RSS amount to a revolution; The high availability personal-press.
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
Corporate sponsored blogs tend to end up being a focal point for interaction related to specialized (corporate related) topics.
What about astroturfing? We see it on Slashdot from time to time--somebody who's on a company's payroll but trying to look independent will submit links to articles or blog posts that are entirely self-serving. I run across blogs every day that seem to
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
So, welcome to the world. There is no requirement that bloggers, or anyone else for that matter, should be honest. But in the long run, integrity tells, and those who value it find ways to filter out those who don't.
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
There is no requirement that bloggers, or anyone else for that matter, should be honest.
Nonsense. It's called fraud.
---
Any large public or private organisation paying recurring, per-seat licensing for software is being economically stupid.
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
We're talking about bloggers not being completely upfront about their motivation in the context of veiled advertising, not people intentionally committing fraud. Apples != oranges.
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
You and I both know the difference between honest dealing and corporate shilling is important, otherwise they wouldn't bother trying to do it, time and again.
It's dishonest, any way you look at it. Marketing parasites try to spin doctor it but it's still fraudulent misrepresentation. i.e. fraud.
The law hasn't caught up yet but hopefully it will.
---
I'm not worried about the use of DRM. I'm worried about the abuse.
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
I liked the internet without blogs just fine.
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
I liked the internet without blogs just fine.
To be honest, internet has always been full of blogs, technically speaking. The only actual difference now is that entirely clueless people are now also able to "contribute" to the internet. Not that I don't get your point or disagree with it, though.
Newsflash (specificly adressed to the media):
Posting stuff on the internet is nothing new! It is what it was made for. Now please end this stupid mediahype immidiatly. You look like utter morons.
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:4, Insightful)
The Gutenberg's printing press broke the Catholic Church, made modern science possible, and gave rise to modern Democracy. There's no question the Internet will have very profound long-term infulence over future structure of society. We're only 10 years into it.
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
The Gutenberg's printing press broke the Catholic Church, made modern science possible, and gave rise to modern Democracy. There's no question the Internet will have very profound long-term infulence over future structure of society. We're only 10 years into it.
Finally, someone takes my bait and delivers the goods. T
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
Groupthink, groupthink, groupthink. And no offense, but your whole post reads like those television ads for Dianetics. "Bloganetics will change your life forever!"
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
While corporates may attempt to jump on the blogging bandwagon as another marketing channel, unless their paid-for bloggers really do deliver the goods and establish themselves as worthwhile net contributors to the communities they seek to engage, they will surely fall by the wayside.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
Yea, sorry for the sensationalism, but I am a little excited about the role that blogging is starting to take in society. If you think this thing through and imagines the social changes that widescale blogging will naturally produce, you too will probably get pretty excited.
Of course there were precursers like usenet and even BBS's. But let me tell you s
Re:Blogging is good for society (Score:2)
Re:blogging=marketing? (Score:2)
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
It definitely was an expected thing. Marketing has become increasingly import (and disgusting, imho) in our society. Wherever ads can creep in, they do. Cf school books with ads. I'm glad I'm done with school.
blogging for $$$==SHILLING? (Score:3, Interesting)
I know "shill" is an inflammatory word to some, but that's what I equate with blogging for money. It is a natural consequence of tying salary to writing.
All blogging = self-promotion! (Score:2)
How is this different from anyone else? "Self expression" -- give me a break. I can express myself without doing it to the whole world. There's definately an element of narcissism in blogging -- ie "look at me" -- which is self promotion.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Neither. It just is. I wonder what took them so long to figure it out. The internet as a commercial space has been around for how many years now?
For all the whining teenagers (Score:5, Funny)
No, you have it all wrong! (Score:2)
Re:For all the whining teenagers (Score:2, Interesting)
It's being used to make BOATLOADS of money by such folks as WeblogsInc and others.
For more information about professional blogging, check out the guru himself: Darren Rowse [problogger.net]. Darren makes a 6-figure income simply by providing quality, regular information on a num
No offence (Score:2)
But people too stupid to handle or lazy to learn the minimum HTML required to create a simple webpage really isn't the kind of people I take my advice from.
Think of it as trashing the web like the easy to use IRC-clients have caused a similar "evolution" of IRC. It really doesn't bring much more useful content out there, just more.
My point vs your points (Score:2)
I realize this is proabbly is very much depending on your point of view, but still.
1. HTML is easy. That was my point. As long as you don't want to make fancy stuff like CSS Zengarden, HTML is pretty darn easy.
2. I would prefer a different analogy, but in the end it doesn't really matter, because an analogy is only just that, an analogy. Anyway, mine goes more like this: People should know the basics of how a car works to be allowed to use it. Like for instance knowing what the dials on the dashboard
Re:No offence (Score:2)
The secret to getting these jobs (Score:5, Insightful)
So what is the job seeker supposed to do? Well, according to What Color is Your Parachute [amazon.com], the key is to use your connections to get in.
If you are a blogger with a dedicated audience, you will already have people knocking on your door to get you to write for them. I know I do, and all I do is write a few words on this site here.
If you want to blog for a company, see if you know anyone working there. They have a better idea about the hiring situation inside their company than any want-ad could ever let you know.
Re:The secret to getting these jobs (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The secret to getting these jobs (Score:2)
The answer is always but a link away.. *yoda*
when languages as many speak as do I, not so clear present yourself will you
Re:The secret to getting these jobs (Score:1, Funny)
Agreed. It's not that hard to make a lot of money just writing on sites like this for different companies. Why, for example, McDonalds recently commissioned me to subtly write about their delicious tasty Quarter Pounder which is served with a generous portion of mouth-watering, delectable fries and a refreshing d
Danger of hidden agendas? (Score:2)
I'm wondering if most corporate bloggers are up-front about the corporation that pays them, or ideally the corporation that funds the corporation that pays them. A hypothetical example: Laura Didio == Yankee Group == Microsoft.
The potential for abuse of this "buy-a-blogger" system is huge.
I'm sure Roland would agree (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I'm sure Roland would agree (Score:2)
Hopefully they're literate (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hopefully they're literate (Score:1)
Takes one to know one. Who's doing the hiring?
KFG
Re:Hopefully they're literate (Score:2)
Re:Hopefully they're literate (Score:1)
And you find those to be great fonts of literacy?
KFG
This is anything new? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:This is anything new? (Score:1)
But Microsoft is an Asshole about it (Score:3, Funny)
Even on anti Microsoft posts where I got +5 moderation, that was usually after 10 mod downs and 15 mod up's. Yeah, you really gotta be that good at making your point to nail them.
Perhaps, shashdot should have a special rating for anti Microsoft posts that make them more difficult to mod down, an
Well, look at Kottke (Score:1)
Re:Well, look at Kottke (Score:1)
What, as opposed to involuntary ones? *scratches head*
Re:Well, look at Kottke (Score:2)
The new dot-com nonsense (Score:4, Insightful)
It isn't - it's silly and it rolls off your tongue wrong, like "Pog" - but that hasn't stopped anyone.
In fact, it's gotten so bad that I was reading Time magazine today and saw a totally serious sidebar on this hip new phenomenon, "Blogebrity". This is a nonsense Contagiousmedia hoax [contagiousmedia.org], and I'm surprised the editors let it slip through. (Or I wonder how much they got paid.) At any rate, Time's sloppy standards there exemplify the cultural phenomenon where anything that says 'blog' and sounds trendy is brilliant and worth supporting.
Yikes.
Re:The new dot-com nonsense (Score:1)
Re:The new dot-com nonsense (Score:3, Funny)
Why not? (Score:1)
Re:Why not? (Score:2, Funny)
Personal Satisfaction Engineers find that term offensive, you insensitive clod.
KFG
Business is business (Score:3, Insightful)
Frequently updated and interesting content like /. can develop a community around it. From there, whether the site chooses to simply offer a service for the goodwill of their readers, or incorporate a more conventional way of monetizing website traffic, provides the business payoff.
Smart business IMO, and we'll probably see more of it.
__Laugh Daily funny free videos [laughdaily.com]
Rely on the corporate bussiness (Score:1, Funny)
But then again, maby they where?
(like I wouldn't know.. because I don't surf pr0n).
*emptying cache*
Re:Rely on the corporate bussiness (Score:2)
They were there long before the web. It's called the Penthouse letters page, and it's long been a home to illiterate, implausible drivel, so I think it qualifies.
Re:Rely on the corporate bussiness (Score:1)
Figures... (Score:1)
Re:Figures... (Score:1)
Cash for ..ah..blogging (Score:3, Interesting)
What a great idea (Score:1, Insightful)
Disclosure (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Disclosure (Score:1, Offtopic)
When's Trolling Going to be a Paid Job? (Score:5, Funny)
Excellent (Score:2)
Not only can we count on unedited accounts from the mouths of non-specialists... we can count on those non-specialists being paid off by corporate interests to spout off opinions that those corporations will not have to take any responsibility for.
This can apparently only be used for good.
This is a good thing (Score:1, Funny)
Spelling error in article (Score:4, Insightful)
%s/blogger/astroturfer/g
Wake up (Score:3, Interesting)
Look at all the technology companies who encourage their employees to blog and wax effusive about their products. (picking a couple of easy examples) Sun, Microsoft, Redhat and many more do this.
Witness the co-opting of political blogs of all kinds during the last season of US and Australian elections. Notice the tight coupling between the language used by certain bloggers and spin crafted by political parties?
Observe the abuse of blogs to gain or destroy Google ratings.
If you think that what you are reading in a blog is somehow automatically more "real" than something you would read in an advert, press release or partisan hack's column, then you are deluding yourself. Blogs are another tool in the bag of PR and marketing people and they will continue to be used as such.
Re:Wake up (Score:2)
at last (Score:1)
just another bubble (Score:4, Insightful)
Now it's just another fashion to coopt for marketting reasons. These people will make lots of money for a months until everyone realizes that anyone can write blogs -- that's the entire point. Then it'll be just another job requirement for employees.
Wait, that's not true. Blogs were never cool.
Re:just another bubble (Score:2)
But they are here to stay. The term "blog" may be a bit of a fad like "cyberspace". But it's basic form isn't going to go away any time soon. That's because they do one thing very well: help people communicate.
Re:just another bubble (Score:2)
You're correct of course. I was basically making fun of the depths companies will sink to to pander to investors. Investors will flee over transitory problems, so companies need a way to say "everything is fine" more frequently and more publically. The message hasn't changed, but they think finding
Re:just another bubble (Score:2)
The Qualificiations... (Score:2)
Digital Promotion (Score:5, Interesting)
Blogging has entered business in a big way, and people getting paid to blog is a natural progression. A good blogger must be able to crank out topical posts every day, often more than one entry a day. It ain't easy. I try to keep up my graphic blog (at: http://sunandfun.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]) regularly and the best I can do is about one post every two days.
The lady in the Wall Street Journal article blogs for a yogurt company. I'm sure blogging is a more effective way of pulling in business than, say, sending out sample dispensers in supermarkets, which is kind of messy, plus the company has to provide all the samples that always get eaten by people who never buy. Of course, her blog will be even more popular now that she's got a write-up in Wall Street Journal.
Re:Digital Promotion (Score:2)
Seriously. Who here entertained even the most transient desire to go look up a blog on yogurt? Popcorn?
It is the middle of the night, and I doubt that even bored slashdotters are *THAT* desperate.
I believe it has its place in the corporate world; interesting jobs and people can make for OCCASIONAL interesting blogs. As a marketing tool for hiring new folks, I imagine that the MS blogs are great -- I've even seen some negative opinions of MS
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Digital Promotion (Score:2)
Actually, when I created the first blog by keeping an daily online journal I was in my 20's.
Re:Digital Promotion (Score:2)
I wrote a blog entry [blogspot.com] about that a few weeks ago.
Stephen
Oh, they are coming. Coming to take it away. (Score:1)
http://www.reallysimplesyndication.com/2005/04/28
Ask a garbageman. Everything is a paycheck to someone.
Dear ED, (Score:4, Funny)
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The problems I have .... (Score:4, Insightful)
Most corporations have been hiring shills for centuries. Shilling has been done online for years
The best bloggers are loyal employees. Use them to show that the company has a soul and a heart. No need to hire outsiders... look within.
I've tried to hire some tech bloggers to help me develop content on a website or two... specially given that my skills are in putting together sites and not blogging or reporting or even writing coherent articles.
To me commerical blogging (from a non corporate but money making perspective) is essentially fairly similar to running or working for a newspaper. It has to be a very controlled equation that manages egos, commercial reality, discipline, ethics and discipline.
Egos: The most dedicated bloggers I've met (and I've met a fair few in person) walk around with their egos in their pants.. (and moan about not making enough money to pay their hosting bills). Sometimes it is this wonderful mix of poverty and passion that produces great blogs... usually it is passion.
Commercial Realities: At some point, people stop caring about the bloggers mundane life and start caring more about the news and information in the blog. In a corporate environment, no one cares about how much salt you put on your fish and chips... deal with it and develop a focus on what the readers want
Discipline: Can you produce a story or two a day that will keep readers coming back? Most blogs are abandoned, usually because the bloggers loose interest... If you can discipline yourself and produce a good story every day (hard to do in most areas) or week, you will see people return.. this will equate to $$s
Commerical Realities: At some point we all need to accept that anything commercial needs a disiplined approach. Commercial entities do not understand that the best journalists often don't file a story a day... they are good because of the quality and not the quantity. If their PR department cannot find something new about the company every day
Boing's LiveJournal (Score:1)
Almost the perfect job... (Score:2, Funny)
Sorry, I just could not resist
Nothing new? (Score:2)
Who cares about the topic of this article? (Score:2)
Re:Who cares about the topic of this article? (Score:2)
Same-Day WSJ op-ed piece from Instapundit (Score:2)
I kinda doubt that Hulk's Blog [blogspot.com] is going to go Corporate ... ;-)
My favorite blog... (Score:2)
I don't know if he's making any money, but it's one of the few, rare, raw blogs I've read. I just wish he'd update it more often.
What's the difference? (Score:2)
A: A shill can go home in the evening and keep quiet.