What is a blogger?

Lately I’ve had quite a few people ask me the dreaded question: ‘What is a blogger?’

For me, the question fails to yield a simple (or one sentence) answer. I’m not really sure what defines a blogger other than a person who writes or compiles a blog. In the last few years, the blogging community has expanded at a rapid rate, with many industries now seeing the blogger as a new breed of journalist: responding instantly to new stories and sharing them with followers. In some ways I guess a blogger is a journalist, like a person working in the traditional media or PR, you need to have a good idea of what’s going on around and what other people are saying and doing. You also need to have a good idea of the kind of things that people will actually want to read.

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I can’t help but think that the question inevitably goes hand in hand with, ‘so what do you blog about?’ And again the answer isn’t really a straightforward one. I write about fashion, lifestyle, the North East, my friends.. really it’s a collection of stuff I like or find inspiring, projects I’m working on, things I’ve been up to, and anything else that catches my eye.

I started blogging a few years ago because I wanted to work on my writing. I had just started to get freelance work from The Crack and I needed another outlet in order to develop my voice. As I’ve told you in a previous post, when I first began blogging, it was something that few of my friends were aware of and certainly wasn’t something I did regularly, but lately I’ve come out my shell and most of my friends (and now colleagues) know all about Raspberry Kitsch. I’ve noticed that since becoming a more regular blogger, I’ve found that the engagement from other bloggers is a lot more meaningful – like a lot of social media, blogging is about conversation. And in order to generate good conversation you need to have something to say. Likewise, my editor told me that in order to be a good writer, I needed to have an opinion on anything and everything. I also thinks it helps to surround yourself with interesting people.

So while we’re on the subject of interesting people, for the last few weeks I’ve been researching North East based blogs and causing some intrigue by asking Northern bloggers to get in touch. Now I can finally let slip why: Sky Tyne & Wear are hosting a networking event on Wednesday 7th November! It’s taking place 6-9pm at As You Like It in Jesmond and will be a great opportunity for us Northerners to get to know each other. In case you didn’t get an email, I thought it’d be a good idea to help spread the word cos the way I look at it, with networking events it’s always the more the merrier. It’s a bit of a shame that us Northerners always seem to be years behind the South and the NE Blogger scene could really do with a bit more of the spotlight. Hope to see you there!

If you need anymore details of want to RSVP then email philippa.goymer@bskyb.com or tweet her and let me know you’re attending!