Monday, April 09, 2007

Our First Blogger Meetup

In February, we hosted the very first NBC17 Blogger Meet Up. I definitely needed the help of area bloggers to get this meeting off the ground, so I asked them lots of questions.

In return, I got lots of answers.

I must say this blogging community is amazing. It is our hope to embrace the blogosphere. Barry, our General Manager, said it best when he posted on Ed Cone’s Blog:

“Are we sincere in our efforts to tap into the vibrant local blogging community? Yes. Do we have a lot to learn about the way people are using the web and new technology? Yes. Will we make mistakes along the way in navigating a new direction? Yes, yes and yes.”

I agree with Terry Heaton, Triangle bloggers are a bunch of fun. I shared a number of great conversations with a number of different bloggers. They each have an opinion and engage their readers with that opinion while inviting a two way conversation.

To Terry’s point, this was an eye-opening experience for me. I had no idea what to think about the blogosphere when I embarked on this meet up. I can now say I am on a learning curve… an adventure to learn as much as I can as soon as I can. While I didn’t think bloggers slept in and stayed in their pajamas all day, I did not realize how many bloggers do this as more than just a hobby, but as a voice and in some cases as a full-time job.

Our purpose remains the same now as it did prior to the meet up. We are looking to embrace bloggers, to learn what is important to each of them and to seek out ways that we can help the local blogosphere.

I met so many interesting people: Luther, Zoe, Chuck, Jason, Matt, Wayne Sutton, Rob, Andy Beal, Marcus Williford and Nathan Gilliatt. One of the attendees, Stephanie is launching a blog soon.

This truly was a great first step, of many, in getting to know each of you. Inside The Core will be a first hand look at our news operation, as I see it from the Assignment Desk/MCC, aka the core of the operation. Why did we make certain decisions? How did we come to decide things? This blog will have all that plus, hopefully, a lively dialogue with each of you on daily news items and topics that are going on in your neighborhood.

So stay tuned…

We took some cool pictures at the blogger meet up, you can view them by clicking here.

-Jason
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