I was a guest today on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU, the NPR affiliate in Washington, DC. They put up the audio here. I was joined in the segment by two other bloggers: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Contributing Editor, The Atlantic and author of The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, Unlikely Road to Manhood and Dan Silverman who runs the Prince of Petworth blog.
The topic was "The Myths of Personal Blogging". The segment was about 30 minutes and revolved around the idea that in the olden days of the blogosphere it was possible to create a national media profile just by banging away at a blogspot web site. I am not sure that was ever the case but certainly the days when people who were largely unknown created a media profile through their blogging - Ana Maria Cox, Glenn Reynolds, Duncan Black (Atrios), etc. The segment then moved into taking calls and emails from listeners and exploring what it really takes to establish a successful voice in today's blogosphere.
My view has always been that blogs surface talent but the talent has to be there in the first place. People like Ana Maria, Glenn Reynolds and Duncan had talent to begin with - and a relevant background (editor, professor and professor, respectively). Dan made the good point that the idea that blogs had to be "snarky" has come and gone and now you have to deliver real news and information to catch readers interest. Dan works on his blog after his day job for 2-3 hours a night and then walks 10 miles every weekend looking for stories for his blog. That hardly fits with the nation of bloggers sitting in their basement. Ta-Nehisi is in New York and I only wish we had a chance to meet up after the show. He seems like a great guy and a propensity to cut through the bull and say what he means. No wonder Atlantic hired him.
