Evergreen articles are rarely as good as James Kendrick’s ZDNet analysis “Corporate layoffs: Prepare your BYOD smartphone for the worst“, which reminds what good, longer-form, long-lasting journalism is supposed to be: Informative and useful to readers in the intended audience.
In contrast, the trend among bloggers is to write a question in the headline that someone might ask in search. While the information in the post can be useful, the intended audience is the search engine, not people. Consider this example from Gizmodo today: “Why Do Radio Signals Travel Farther at Night Than in the Day?” The topic marginally fits Gizmodo’s target tech audience, which I presume is likely to know the answer. The story is republished from site Today I Found Out, where there are more reader-useful graphics. James’ story informs and educates, while the Giz post is more like a non-curated Wikipedia entry.
Right as Write
James’ bring-your-own-device-to-work piece targets his core audience, with a story that gives great advice about how employees can protect their data from corruption, snooping, or loss. While the headline spotlights layoffs, his analysis is broader.
BYOD devices and the commingling of personal and corporate data are not new topics. I harped on the commingling problem—and it is one — a decade ago when working as an analyst for Jupiter Research. Then, employees used work devices for personal purposes, introducing all kinds of risks to the company; like malware.
Roles reverse. As more companies allow—even encourage—employees to use their own devices, personal data loss is the risk, particularly if an IT organization provisioned the device. The current context is excellent opportunity for James to write an informative, evergreen story that informs and advises. This is what original content should be.
Write as Wrong
Five years ago in March I posted “The Difference Between Blogging and Journalism“, which content is even more relevant today. The post looks at viewpoint (providing several) and, more importantly, sourcing directly rather than second-hand. Half-decade later, hearsay sourcing is pronounced across the blogosphere and even some news sites.
A more recent trend is posting evergreen stories designed to capture pageviews over time, again, often answering questions the headline poses that not coincidentally someone might ask in search. In 2015, the real difference between blogging and journalism is this: Whom do you write for and why.
As such, the contrast between James’ BYOD article and these others is pronounced. He clearly writes for the benefit of a specific human audience. That’s journalism. The other type seeks to capture search-engine traffic. That’s blogging.
Photo Credit: Svein Halvor Halvorsen