Is there any difference between journalism and blogging?

Ok, journalists would not like to share their traditional position with a blogger unless they are into it. However, by nature blogging is nothing but social journalism and thus for the same reason, it is different from traditional journalism. There is another difference between traditional journalism and blogging – a blogger does not have a press pass to step into any or every event.

Things are changing in some fronts. For example, some business organizations do not hesitate to call bloggers in their traditional press conferences. And if the business organization has web presence and wants to create some buzz in the online market, they directly approach the bloggers – it is very common. And more importantly, if the business organization’s size is not very big or if they do not have a news worthy event that could interest the traditional journalists, they often move towards blogs (didn’t you try it!!).

But why traditional journalism holds such a place?

The main reason is that people trust them. It is in human nature to believe anything written and if the document is a published material, there is nothing like that. People would love to use them as reference. However, if you tell the same story, they are less likely to believe your words and might even ask “where did you read it” unless you are already an established authority on the topic.

Is this one of the reasons of the popularity of blogging! Yes; and there should not be any doubt about it.

What else?

1. The most common and widely published reason is that Blogs allow a general person the opportunity to publish their thoughts. But that’s not all. A blog actually offers you the opportunity to challenge (no more explanations – think about it).

2. Self publications – what can be more satisfactory but the reason that people from different parts of the world are reading your blog and communicating via comments. You are actually becoming a world citizen in no time.

3. Expression of power – I would like to call it power of expression that a blogger enjoys – knowingly or unknowingly.

4. Being social in another community: What else should I say about it?

I would not like to add “earning money” or “networking” or other similar terms to this list. The main reason is that, these are not primary or core reasons for someone to start his or her first blog. To the most these are secondary stages.

Do you have anything else to add to this list?