A Rose by any other name.

In the early days, long before the news media took any notice of web logs and long before there were 150 million blogs, it was uncertain if anyone cared or noticed personal daily, weekly or monthly online articles, written by mothers in dressing gowns. Seems people in pyjamas were busy writing opinions, news stories, niche segmentations and insights around kitchen tables, in basements and in coffee shops. Or so the media of the time had us thinking, as they cast a disparaging eye over amateurs looking for journalistic validation.

Today there is not a single media outlet from the venerable New York Times ( I will stop using them eventually ) to the local throw away Bugle that doesn't have blog posts. Blog posts from journalists, writers, matter experts, editorialists and likely Mothers in dressing gowns at the kitchen table. The ease with which the humble blog was produced via the plethora of platforms available, gave old media cause to ridicule its content and structure and did no justice to the "blood sweat and tears" of the people writing everyday. Eventually the acceptance level was raised by the sheer volume of words written daily and the legacy mindset of traditional media capitulated with a can't win, join attitude.

With this acceptance comes a new push to validate blogs by giving them a landscape and a new name within a content management structure. Seems there are many wanting to raise blogs into the vernacular of journalistic expertise and as such find a more suitable monicker with gravitas attached. Gravitas to elevate the blog beyond the local, the current, the niche and the pyjama perception. The things that make blogs popular, speed to market, niche insights, local knowledge and personalisation are the drivers of web content enthralling the world via social media sites and show no signs of abating. Is there a jealousy factor around the popularity of blogs versus the sun setting legacy media outlets?

The journey from legacy media to social media has given birth to millions of voices that for so long had no avenue and no option other than to adhere to the status quo of singular points of view. Just because blogs run on different systems to newspapers, magazines and the rest of the publishing world, doesn't mean their content is any less worthy of being read, admittedly by far fewer readers but often by far more engaged readers.

So do we need a branding campaign, an image intervention and a renaming of the procedure to validate the existence and justify legacy media accepting the new kids on the block? Blogs are repositories of information in various guises to appeal to their many audiences but scratch the surface and you'll find reporters, writers, local mavens and people who don't need validation of their work via a renaming campaign.

I write a blog of personal thoughts and insights based around my interests and work environment and with any luck it attracts the occasional reader who's opinion may or may not agree with mine. Hopefully the articles elevate people's thinking on various subjects and give them pause to reflect. If that is the end result, then I feel vindicated in my efforts and am comfortable remaining in this skin called a blog.