Kenmore Undressed

The Anatomy of a Blog Post: I Think, Therefore I Blog

People laugh when I say that blogging makes you smarter. “You can’t be serious,” they say, “isn’t every Tom, Dick and Mary out there writing whatever comes into their minds and then blabbing it out to the world? Actually, this is a great question because it raises important issues such as:

• What about fact-checking: How does the reader know that the blogger is really researching a subject?
• What about journalistic integrity: Are bloggers utilizing legitimate sources and cross-checking them?
• What about plain old truth-telling? How can I know if a blogger is sincere?

Let me be clear: Whole books have been written about the problems with blogging. Probably one of the most thoughtful is Andrew Keen’s “The Cult of the Amateur.” His premise is that the internet is literally killing our culture! He calls into question the user-generated free content of amateurs which he claims is destroying our valued cultural institutions such as newspapers, magazines, movies, books, etc..

Well, it hasn’t taken long for part of his theory to come true. Many of the largest national newspapers are having serious financial problems due to the increasing number of on-line news services, blogs and websites. Recently, the Christian Science Monitor announced that it is going to cease publishing a daily paper in favor of its on-line self. Whether we like it or not, the internet has forever changed the face of news-gathering. It’s where most people will get their information.

I do believe that Mr. Keen is wrong about the value of blogging content. Let me give you an example of how I put together a blog post:

Pick the Subject

As a realtor I have a keen interest in my local market place. My goal in blogging is to provide my readers with informative and accurate information regarding home sales and values here in Kenmore, WA. Today, I wanted to address a post on a popular and provocative blog called Seattlebubble.com. In a recent post entitled “J. Lennox Scott & Dick Beeson Predictions vs. Reality the author basically “called out” the two regional industry gurus buy highlighting numerous incorrect predictions they’ve made about the market over the last year. Basically, he’s saying that they are dead-wrong. If you read the blog commentary, it’s obvious that the author, “The Tim,” hit a real raw nerve with real estate agents and consumers.

Fact Gathering

The author of Seattlebubble.com cites a number of reputiable sources for his statistics and quotes. Moreover, I have access to numerous sources of my own. In my last post, my sources back up the notion that we should all be a little skeptical of ”predictions” regarding real estate. The experts have been dead wrong recently. Let me also direct you to an incredibly sobering article in U.S.A. Today that puts the current housing market in perspective.

Writing the Blog Post

After doing the research and thinking about the best way to present the material, I then write the article. In order to help my readers understand the subject, I try to hyperlink to as many other reputiable sources as possible. The fun part for us bloggers is that we can often be a conduit for other important writers to educate us about the world. We don’t have to make things up. We have a world full of vetted, respected experts at our fingertips. In a nutshell: Blogging makes us smarter.

On final thing: I highly recommend you read this report.