I’ve long argued that journalists ought to establish a routine to monitor blogs and other online sites that are germane to their beat. It’s a great eay to learn more about your beat and to find new sources.
But here’s another good reason: Public relations and communications professionals — the spin masters — are targetting blogs.
As Keelan Green, a PR practitioner in the Ottawa office of Thornley Fallis writes:
We want to understand social media thoroughly and be a leader in the area in order to properly advise our clients on how they can use it to enhance their internal and/or external communications programs.
For several months now, I’ve been following a variety of blogs and podcasts, and frequently leave comments on topics that I find interesting or have a point of view on.
Also, we regularly pitch bloggers on behalf of clients (just as we do traditional media) with news and stories that we think would be of interest to them – based the focus of their blog.
A case in point.