Now, the book relates to audience segmentation via new media and how it affects the business of marketing, but the principles also can apply to the journalism, which is facing the same problems re: saturation of the market and the rapid development on niche publishing that's stealing market share from the mass-market-friendly print publications.
Long and short of it: Bloggers and other online upstarts are the Sex Pistols. Us? Think Barry Manilow. Or maybe, if we're being generous, Donna Summer.
In the late seventies, punk was a shot heard around the radio as a beyond-refreshing change from the tired old formulaic music of the time. It was a call to action, a demand for revolt delivered in our own language. The punk rock that burst rudely onto the scene ... was replete with energy and vitality and shook the complacent music industry to its core and scared the crap out of disco-infused freaks that were running/ruining the whorish record business.
The records were raw and unstructured and had the unmistakable feel of something created with glee by the people for the people.
A few important pieces from these two simple paragraphs:
• "A demand for revolt delivered in our own language": Blogs are written in the plainest of language, often in short, easily-digested bites, and they are — truth told — often a bit profane. (Or at least PG-13.) In other words, they read like a lot of people talk.
Contrast with even the best daily journalism, which is written in as neutral a tone as possible and then thoroughly edited, often by 2-3 ever-more-cautious editors, usually with an eye toward not offending anyone ...
The result? The stories don't sound like people talking. They sound like stereo instructions.
• "Energy and vitality": This is, at least in part, another by-product of the above.
Bloggers tell you what they know when they know it. They go back and add stuff as they go, correcting errors (and providing clarification) where necessary.
Traditional reporting involves gathering all the facts, checking them, then putting them through the editing process.
Safe, to be sure, but the end product is often lacking in both energy and vitality.
• "Complacent music industry": I'm using this more as a backhanded swipe at the news industry, which (as a whole) indeed did slumber through most of the Web's earliest stages of development ...
Even today, many papers seem more concerned about protecting their own turf than blazing new trails.
Bloggers (and other new media types) have no such concerns. They can try new stuff constantly, and they'll figure out what works ... even while the rest of us are just creeping into the game.
• "Raw and unstructured ... created with glee": The enthusiasm many of these bloggers bring to the party can't be matched by something as mundane as professional obligation.
That comes across in the writing every bit as much as in the content.
A shorter way to put it: Blogs can be fun. Even blogs about wonky/serious stuff.
Why? Driven by their own passions, the bloggers make it that way. (See, also, the aforementioned ability to experiment and try new things.)
In traditional newswriting, fun has its place ... but it's a fairly limited, even segregated place.
ALL THAT SAID, as a metaphor, this "punk rock" thing has its flaws.
Punk wasn't the first "for the people" music form to come down the pike ... although, arguably, the loudest ... and it wasn't even the most recent. (Rap, anyone?)
I would argue the online revolution is significantly more profound, in ways we haven't even imagined yet, and the bloggers are just the first wave of whatever's coming next.
But, hopefully, this thing can help you sort of frame exactly what we're up against here, and why now, it's more important than ever that you start to understand blogs, and what makes them tick.
• "Punk Marketing"
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