After blog reader Jo became aware of various discussions by people interested in blogging in association with mainstream media, he forwarded a link to me.

Friends know that I can talk the leg off a table about my walking and related research projects. Therefore, if an opportunity was presented to me to talk about what I am doing on radio, television or write for the print media, I would welcome this.  But at the moment I am not interested in being proactive and engineering such opportunities; I am simply enjoying myself too much with the research and walks.  Yet because I do hope to inspire others to get out and make their own life projects large or small, not necessarily along a river like the Derwent and not necessarily walking, then perhaps I should make the time to broadcast more widely using mainstream media. Have any of my followers thought through this and, of so, what have you decided or done?  What have been the outcomes?

My blog is already directly connected to social media. It has its own Facebook and Twitter sites, and is connected to LinkedIn. I like the fact that these manage themselves and require minimal action from me, thereby releasing me for further research. But is this enough?

In the online article, “Ms Perera said working with mainstream media helped boost her credibility as writer and her social media followers. ‘It helped me in terms of going forward with my blog… having being published in places like Fairfax just makes your work seem more substantial,’ she said.”  Until reading this, it had not occurred to me that some people believe a hierarchy of media types exists and that bloggers are somehow less credible than writers in the mainstream media.  What do other bloggers think about this, I wonder?

Carly Jacobs in the online article said ‘she knew other bloggers who had been burned by their interactions with traditional media. “I’ve got lots of blogging friends that have had very, very negative experiences in working with mainstream media. Particularly personal bloggers. A lot of the time they’ve been misquoted, or they haven’t really understood the relationship…. I think bloggers are a little bit more sensitive to other people’s privacy, whereas mainstream journalists are trained to get ‘the good story’ out of people.”’  I wonder if my followers have any experiences they wish to share on this point.

What about bloggers seeking financial gain?

I imagine all blog writers would love a dribble if not a rush of income from their regular reports. This is perfectly understandable for those writing with the commercial motivation to sell a product or a service. However, I believe there are thousands of us who simply love what we do and what we write about, and we will continue to do so without expectation of dollars floating into our bank accounts.  I will be interested in the viewpoint of those of my regular blog followers who have their own blog.  Are you already attracting or trying to attract sponsoring advertisers to bring you some income?