Mike Stopforth

If you’ve found your way here because you heard me chatting to Simon Dingle, welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment below with any questions you may have. My thanks goes to 702 for the opportunity to have a quick chat on Talk at 9 after John Robbie picked up on my Citizen column this morning and mentioned is on the morning show.

If you’re interested, the column from this morning:

You’ve heard of blogs (or web logs) – perhaps you first read about them in this column or in your favourite magazine – perhaps you even have a blog yourself.

A blog, if you haven’t yet cottoned on, is a website that publishes its content in the form of a series of articles (or posts) in reverse chronological order.

That means the most recent articles are shown at the top of the page, while the older ones shift down as content is added. Blogs typically allow readers to comment on their posts, which lends most an informal, conversational tone.

Blogs can be authored by anyone. Companies have blogs, to talk to both their employees and their customers (see www.converseblog.co.za or www.corollablog.co.za as examples). Educators have blogs – universities and schools are using blogs as learning platforms and research tools. Politicians have blogs – goodness knows they aren’t going to turn down an opportunity to shout their mouths off in a new medium!

And then individuals have blogs. Bloggers, they’re called. These people (I’m one of them, see www.mikestopforth.com) blog about pretty much anything that means something to them.

Whether it’s business and commerce, sport, fashion, life, music or what they did that day, more than a quarter of a million human beings share their opinions and stories online every day using these tools.

Blogs have often been criticised for their “wannabe” journalistic nature and the large amount of useless content. I have to agree.

Much of what is authored on blogs is irrelevant. But a small percentage is awesome content, and even a small percentage of 250 million sites is a big wad of great information.

However the tide is turning on this perception here in SA.

I attended the South African Blog Awards (yes, they do exist) in Cape Town on Wednesday night. The big winners on the evening where not the geeks that attended though – they where big media players. “Old media” (if you will) that have embraced these new technologies and are harnessing their value for brand exposure and readership engagement.

It’s a sign blogging is growing up, and fast. Sponsors on the evening included the likes of Dell and Microsoft (and prizes included Xbox consoles and PC monitors).

So are you reading blogs? Have you taken time to unearth the gems in the blogosphere? Are you being heard in a blog? Maybe it’s time you gave it a whirl…

Thanks for your visit!