Lately I’ve been conversing with local newspaper editors about blogging, citizen journalism etc. It starts with a simple email — perhaps just a note saying "I like what you are doing" (or sometimes — "I hate what you are doing") — but either way, I can’t stop myself from hitting reply and sending an email right back.
I wanted to write about two of these exchanges in particular because I believe there are lessons to be learned. Or at least, discussed.
The first case is an editor from The Elk Grove Citizen, a paper in the Sacramento area.
The editor and I have actually butted heads in some email exchanges. I’m happy to say that despite a bit of antagonism — I think there is mutual respect and admiration — perhaps neither of us are geniuses — but I believe we both get the sense that the other cares about journalism and only wants to see the trade continue into the future.
Having said that — we do disagree about whether or not there is merit in citizen journalism/blogging etc. Still — to this editors credit, the Elk Grove has started a blog.
I’ve talked about different ways one can build traffic to your blog and the first thing I said was: find other local blogs and when they write something good — link to it. Seems pretty intuitive to me. Unfortunately, the editor I’ve been conversing with came against a snag: his boss has given him a strict linking policy.
No links to other newspapers, links to other blogs are unlikely and no stories can be published on the blog until after they hit print first.
A dilemma that I wanted to analyze for a moment. It might be old news to others, but linking is an editorial service. In fact, entire companies have been created to help outsource the creation of editorially significant links (side note: I recently met with the CTO of Inform and we had this exact discussion, links are an editorial service).
I’m not talking about Intellitxt links which are just advertisements. I’m talking about good, informative and engaging links. If newspapers are in the business of informing readers — there is no simple way than this.
If you aren’t linking, then you aren’t serving the reader. And when I go to a restaurant with bad service, I don’t come back. On the flip side — how many times have you gone back to a restaurant because the bread they serve before the meal is fantastic?
There are very successful blogs that only serve up links — and people love them for it. Blogs that I read regularly are just quick links out to more in-depth stories. But I go back to those blogs because I trust the bloggers choices and I know they’ll help keep me informed. They are serving me up a tasty dish of hyperlinks.
Case in point: What journalist doesn’t read Romenesko?
I think my editor friend at the Elk Grove gets it. But I get the impression his boss doesn’t. Which is too bad. Perhaps it’s a business thing — but a publisher should never underestimate the power of the browser back button — which means one more page impression and one more ad served.
Bottom line: it’s probably blogging 101, and a lot of you think I’m just being repetitive for saying this: Linking is good. Linking to competitors shows you have guts and integrity and that you put informing your reader as the highest priority.
And you can have fun with links too. Think of links as you in little blue words. You are what you link.
I do wish the Elk Grove all the success in the world. Having emailed back and forth with one of their editors, I know there are good and passionate people on board — and in the end, all the links in the world can’t replace a good dedicated journalist. So here’s to a California paper (raises glass). Good luck guys.