Moving On Up

To really get to the heart of what blogging is all about, this study must be evaluated on three levels; a reflection of the way in which blogging itself works.

1. The replies I received.
2. Visiting the respondents’ blogs, and entering into communication there.
3. Information/contacts/ideas gained from exploring blogrolls at those sites.

I left a comment with everyone who responded; partly for research, partly as this is an unwritten code of blog ‘etiquette’. At those blogs I entered into further debates.

One of the most interesting threads of blog debate this week concerned the question of anonymity.

Some defend anonymity because they enjoy the creative freedom that blogging offers – to explore new ideas and the potential to ‘fictionalize’ themselves as writers.

On the other side of the fence were comments reflecting the fact that those commissioning work and/or trying to spot new talent view blogs. The argument is that those people won’t be inclined to pursue anonymous writers.

“The Internet is one of the best marketing tools anyone has at their disposal. I’ve had work purely on the basis of my website. People have started searching on UKScreen or Shooting People or whatever and have found my name; from there they’ve gone to my website or this blog and read some of my scripts. They’ve then got in touch about me writing for them, or sometimes asked if they can produce one of my short scripts.”(Phil Barron)

At the third level of analysis, a compelling reason for writers to blog becomes self-evident; the trail that led from respondents' blogrolls.

This trail led me to a vast array of writing related information, contacts, ideas and a place to communicate with like-minded people in what can potentially be a very lonely profession.

These links speak for themselves as invaluable evidence of building writing related contacts and events; some are included here, but every writer will find a unique path reflecting a personal 'hyper' contact list . Unlike a Google search leading to a speculative email, blog research opens a more personal method of communication from the outset.