TAREN FUJIMOTO / The Working Press
Eyeballs are the currency of new media, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism professor and WNBC-TV technology reporter Sree Sreenivasan said Thursday.
“If the right pair of eyeballs see your blog, it’s the best marketing opportunity,” Sreenivasan told a standing room-only audience of nearly 75 during his “Figuring Out Blogs and Whatever’s Next” program.
The best way to build an audience is by working hard, Sreenivasan said.
“You have to have the passion to be successful,” Sreenivasan said. “The main ingredient is passion, energy and having the willingness to do it.”
There is a correlation between traffic and posting — the more you post, the more people know about what you’re doing, Sreenivasan said.
“Technology is easy, the hard part is having something to say, “ he said.
Sreenivasan said another way of accumulating readers is to know your field and follow other blogs you want to emulate.
Time shouldn’t be a problem. Even the busiest journalist can make time to post a blog entry, Sreenivasan said.
“Every time you think about sending an e-mail, bookmarking a Web page or anything, you can update your blog,” he said. “Post as much as humanly possible without losing your job.”
The workshop was about building and maintaining audiences, not building a blog from scratch.
“I thought it was going to be more about developing your own blog,” said Kara Sassone, a WLBZ2 anchor and reporter of Bangor, Maine. “But I thought he was a great presenter and very entertaining.”
Greg Linch, a print journalism senior at the University of Miami who has his own blog, said he learned more resources and tips.
“It goes to show you can never know everything about the Internet,” Linch said. “I wanted to find people who knew about blogging and expand my online horizon.”
September 4, 2008 • 2008: Atlanta