From my post at Global PR Blog Week:
Dictionary.com defines participatory as:
Marked by, requiring, or involving participation, especially affording the opportunity for individual participation: a participatory democracy.
And journalism ( ) as:
1. The collecting, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles in newspapers and magazines and in radio and television broadcasts.
2. Material written for publication in a newspaper or magazine or for broadcast.
3. The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation.
4. Newspapers and magazines.
5. An academic course training students in journalism.
6. Written material of current interest or wide popular appeal.
So together, participatory journalism means: collecting, writing, editing and presenting news or news articles through the participation of individuals.
Blogging has become the ultimate form of participatory journalism. Why are so many people interested in blogging? Well as Time magazine wrote in their article Meet Joe Blog "Because they're fast, funny and totally biased."
As PR professionals we have two choices when it comes to blogging, either we can ignore it and hope our company never ends up in a blog or we can monitor blogs related to our business or our clients.
So what rolls are PR agencies playing in the "blogosphere"? Check out my web site www.mnpr.blogspot.com for a few view points from Minnesota PR professionals.
