A trucking journo’s view of blogging

Check out Brian Weatherley’s guest post at automotive pr for an insight into the buzz of blogging. 

Brian is a “proper journalist” and author of www.biglorryblog.com (located on the Reed website: www.roadtransport.com).  He is one of the few motoring journalists who really understands blogging - because he has been there and does it.  I love his view that:

blogging has been one of the most interesting, exasperating, liberating, intrusive, (and don’t forget obsessive) thing that’s happened to me in my life of journalism. I can’t remember any work practice that has had such a fundamental impact on my working day since I joined Commercial Motor in 1978.

He also highlights a difference from journalism – people spontaneously tell you that they’ve read your blog.  Even the lurkers are engaged. 

For those in PR who are cynical about blogs – Brian has 15,000-20,000 visitors a month.  This isn’t just an “audience” but people who genuinely enjoy what Brian calls the:

“frivolous, flippant and possibly rude things I’d ever wanted to write before in Commercial Motor but couldn’t get away with. It’s also a great place to extract the yellow stuff out of appalling press releases and crap PR pictures.”