I’ve been a professional blogger for well over a year now.  Was I one of the first?  I suppose I was.  I was the first staff blogger for InsideBlogging.  Currently I have the enviable title of Chief Blogging Officer (CBO) for Qumana Software Inc.  So in my job and position I get to think a lot about my chosen (okay I kinda fell into it) career.  One of the things I often think about is how professional bloggers are now a critical part of the way people are getting and understanding the news of the day.  There is a symbiotic relationship between bloggers and journalists.  I count several journalists as friends and contacts.  I read their blogs, they read mine.  So are bloggers the new syndicated journalists?  Yeah, I think so.

 

We are portable, fast, and have trained ourselves to gist the news and get it out fast.  Think about how the best pro bloggers pour through information and keep honing that skill.  Will we supplant the need for journalists?  Certainly not.  Bloggers are also free to stop blogging.  A journalist can’t do that.

 

I foresee better and better relationships between bloggers and journalists.  Assuming we don’t step on each others’ toes!