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Bloggers & Economics
I am truly amazed at the story the WSJ ran today suggesting that there are more people making money blogging than programming in America today. From the article:
| Comparing Job Numbers in America | |
|---|---|
| Lawyers | 555,770 |
| Bartenders | 498,090 |
| Bloggers | 452,000 |
| Computer Programmers | 394,710 |
| CEOs | 299,160 |
| Firefighters | 289,710 |
| Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics | |
When you think about it for a moment, this is insane. I don’t know how they are calculating their figure as there is no “blogger” row in the table they cite, but assuming it’s true It means that there are literally 452,000 people out there making a living (at least partially) from affiliate programmes, advertising and selling information products. Four hundred and fifty two thousand.
Maybe I’ve seen so many bubbles over the years that I’m now cynical of large numbers, that seems an awfully large number. What’s more, it’s no surprise that this content with its sensationalist, highly-segmented and tailored tone is taking readers away from newspapers. I’ve discussed before the problems of newspapers and I don’t wish to discuss them again just yet, but the WSJ does ask some interesting questions about this new breed of content producers:
“While many bloggers probably support unionization in general, they have no union of their own. Most have no benefits, yet they work long hours in front of computer screens which could cause a variety of health ailments. And the owners of the big sites most often pay their bloggers as freelancers, avoiding all of those taxes and benefits that newspapers have to pay for their writers.
For now, bloggers say they are overwhelmingly happy in their work, reporting high job satisfaction. But what happens if they, too, lose work; are they covered by unemployment insurance if tastes change and their sites go under? Are they considered journalists under shield laws? Are they subject to libel suits? Are there any limits to the opinions they churn out, or any standards to rein them in? Is there someone to complain to about false blogs or hidden conflicts? At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Panasonic outfitted bloggers with free Panasonic equipment; did that affect their opinions about the companies they wrote about? There are more questions than answers about America’s Newest Profession.”
I feel that as newspapers submerge into the quagmire of their own making, the trained journalists they release will emerge on their own two feet and find a way to take some of the earnings pie out there for themselves, whilst also addressing these issues. There are plenty of models on the horizon for individuals or small teams of journalists to be able to produce the content we need, get paid well for it and in a work setting that protects them, and all without the flabby masses of managers who don’t understand this new model of the World.
Interesting times we live in, eh?
