Recently he started little experiment – he will draw his blog visitors for free.

So, the deal is simple. You just need to send him email with your photo preferably with funny expression and wait for great hand drawn picture (post produced in Adobe Photoshop)

You can already see his first two drawings here and here. So don’t wait too long, send your picture and who knows, maybe you will be lucky enough to get a hand drawn caricature for free.

Main findings:

• 82% of the surveyed journalists read blogs regularly
• Every fourth media worker reads blogs for entertainment
• More than half (58%) of the respondents claim that they rarely use blogs in their work
• 32% have never used blogs in their work
• 41% of the respondents read blogs several times per week
• 32% of the respondents read blogs at least once a day
• 55% of the surveyed journalists say that they are merely passive observers of the blogosphere, only reading blogs, but never commenting
• 20% of the surveyed journalists are considering the possibility of creating their own internet journal

Source data

Their article and the published press release contained nothing more than percentages. I was not only dissatisfied, but also worried by that, so I turned to the authors of the survey with questions. I did not find out everything I wanted, but at least some of my inquiries were answered:

• In the beginning of June, 50 journalists were surveyed, representing all types of media (TV, radio, press, portals)
• Regional journalists were also among the respondents
• The survey was carried out by phone (some also replied by e-mail)

Technical conclusions

If we look past the absolute numbers, this type of survey is interesting, as it shows the attitude of authors of news towards the ‘’internet citizens’’ – bloggers. It must be pointed out right away that these data are only an approximation (5 journalists make up 10%). The number of respondents is somewhat low, which means that each journalist represents a large amount of people. I’m also not clear on the distribution; how many journalists were surveyed from each type of media? However, I hope that the research was carried out in accordance with all required standards.

Conclusions

It is impossible to read blogs and not get affected by them. Journalists easily notice what the prevailing opinions are in internet portal comments and blogs. And now we have obtained information that 82% of the surveyed journalists read blogs. It means that it’s important to present your idea in a professional manner, so that when a journalist notices it, the information has a chance to continue its way to the ‘’serious” media as well.

When information begins its circulation in blogs and is met with considerable feedback, a journalist won’t find it hard to make a few calls on which to base a more serious article.

In Latvia, more and more niche blogs written by experts are appearing, where you can read objective news about the happenings of their specific field – it’s a great source of background information, which would facilitate journalists’ work, if only they knew how to utilize this information.

There are 952 000 inhabitants of Latvia which have used internet in past 6 months, but active internet users which have used internet in past 7 days are only 877 000. So that means 15% of active internet users in Latvia read blogs.

Their data show:

In total blogs during the last 7 days have been read or written by an average of 8 % or 151 000 inhabitants of Latvia aged 15 to 74. TNS Latvia press and internet project manager Elīna Krūze points out that the most common blog readers and writers are aged 15 to 39, mostly students of schools and colleges, as well as managers of various levels.
TNS Latvia

I think that’s a terribly large number. Where does this amount come from?

My guess would be the general bloggersiation of biggest local news portals. Both db.lv, diena.lv, nra.lv and all the other large portals have introduced their own blog sections. And, since they have introduced them and attempt to promote the articles of their experts, it means that at some point people also may have noticed that they are not reading a comment of person A regarding some issue, but rather person A’s blog post about it.

I know that lately some journalists in Latvia have appeared, who think that any of their comments may easily be labeled as blogs. But it’s not so simple; blogs have certain characteristics that differentiate them from a column. One of the best Latvian professional bloggers is Juris Kaža, and other journalists who are told by their editors that they should create a blog would be wise to learn from him.

Some very basic differences between blogger and journalist:

• Bloggers are free to write about whatever subject they want
• Bloggers are free to express their own experience
• Bloggers need to establish successful blogs in order to reach bigger audiences
• Blogs often refer to information sources and previous posts of the blog itself. If there is no link, there is no credibility. It’s not the same as a newspaper anymore, where the readers just believe everything. On the internet people want to check everything and verify the information for themselves
• Let me restate – links are important. A blog must include information sources and the possibility to follow links to continue researching the issue through other resources
• Sequential arrangement of posts. Blogs often include posts about various topics, and new posts often continue a previous thought. Series of articles that continue for a longer time period with pauses are common
• A blog has a clear address of its own, preferably with RSS functionality. In other words, the blogger has a ”home” of his own. At any rate, the author must be able to easily say where his blog posts are located

In the end, however, it must be admitted that there is no strict definition of blogs, so all judgments regarding what is or isn’t a blog are just empty talks.

The info about the statistics found on pods.lv

If something is not clear please ask in comments, because I am not so great in English :)