Report written on 2007 by David Yanover, editor at TechieSouls, regarding the media and blog networks in Spain and Latin America, and translated from spanish to english (there are errors, and we are deeply sorry about that).

Abstract
The blogs are an inevitable analysis, meaning one of the greatest phenomena of modern communication, facing the study of a future in which traditional media are facing a number of obstacles to understand and assimilate the transformation that is coming on their models arrival to the business and society. The media companies based in blogs are the prelude to new forms journalism, which slowly gain strength. This report covers key aspects of the staging of a commercial blog network, while identifying contradictions and relations between them and traditional media and among bloggers and journalists .-

Blogs as media companies

The media and players that shape it, have evolved since the origins of journalism, as access to the scene, where there is information vanishes and massification. The blog networks are a new channel of view, assuming a working philosophy that is based on the future of digital publications.

What is a blog from a business perspective? What contradictions is the journalist who wants to be a blogger? How the media works and build within the so-called blogosphere?

At first, it is necessary to identify three categories of blogs, also known as blogs: personal, commercial and corporate. However, each stage is to maintain the “codes” that govern the blogosphere, regardless of its purpose. Commercial nature sites are the next step of the vast majority of personal blogs, meaning that what began as a hobby became a crowded space, builder of opinion, which strives to continue its development profitable. For its part, the blog includes corporate communication as one of the hearts of a company’s business, scheduled public sites through which to report progress and respond to general concerns of customers, as well as internal blogs, based on the interaction between top management and junior employees to facilitate a “round trip” of opinions towards improving services and / or products. Also mention that a site belonging to any of the three categories described, they can write one or more persons (collective blog).

The word blog itself, emerges in 2003, but not too different from the idea of “personal page”, which was present on the network since its inception. What has changed is that the blog evolved from the personal page to a platform almost become a standard, applied in both mainstream media as sites run by one person. This was still in force in the Web 2.0 era, which put the sailor in the place of both reader and generator of information. Time magazine did not hesitate to declare that “You” were the character in the past year, from an effect on its cover that made it possible for you to reflect on it, referring to the phenomenon of online social networks like YouTube, Wikipedia , MySpace and the rise of blogs.

One reason behind the success of blogs is the lack of credibility that has ciberlector on traditional media. In this context, the blog represents the opinion of its author, and if one disagrees with what it expresses, can manifest it. Thus, a blog that does not allow visitor comments do not deserve that title.

The blog of a stranger can be much more credible and valuable to the navigator, the independence of the author, in contrast to one written by a journalist who has experience in print media, radio and television, and decides to try his luck in this emerging pathway communication. This view makes sense when analyzed primarily blogs linked to political, economic and social.

The opinion article is developed at its best in the land of blogs, being an area in which prevails the freedom to say what one thinks and feels. However, unsubstantiated opinion, as in the classical period that the reader does not turn your back.

However, the potential of a blog is marred by lack of knowledge. It is not simply to publish information related to one, but also to understand the culture and the way in which things move in the network. The major blogging platforms, WordPress, Drupal and Movable Type, the first two for free download and submitting a final cost of licensing, are available for both big multimedia as for a boy of twelve who want to explore and have fun on the Web . The opportunity is the same for all, and the problem has nothing to do with investment, but with knowledge.

This report covers all aspects needed to understand the essence behind the construction of a network of blogs, as well as a personal blog, and the impact this trend has on the electronic versions of major newspapers around the world. The blog offers a philosophy of work and communication that is declared as the basis for the future of the Internet. Far from being a game, blogs manage thousands of millions of visitors per month.

The boom in commercial blog networks

The birth of the blog networks originates in mid-2003, starring in a big explosion in Spanish two years later, and attracting new entrepreneurs and investors to the times of today. First, the Internet succumbed to SHAKESPARE language, and then Hispanics. However, in both markets, divided by language and geography-not because you have to understand that the Internet does not exist across boundaries, those responsible for the formation of networks, were businessmen, mostly in their twenties and thirty years, who accompanied the phenomenon since its inception, having previous experience with respect to business on the Web. Most owners of the blog networks have their personal blog, which not only serves as reference for the sector, but also as a prelude to new business.

The commercial blog networks bring together teams of bloggers behind each of your projects online. Hispanic networks, consisting of three, ten or even more than a dozen blogs, are sold as advertising space. Such enterprises tend to be led by people who lived through the success of a blog itself, and decided to translate their experience in the construction of new blogs. But beyond business, blogging networks that enable and promote the authors who work in their ranks to express themselves without fear. In fact, a problem related to the latter, is in the eyes of advertisers, which are embodied in these spaces, criticism of various kinds. The blog belongs to a network can be written by one or more authors, resulting in the latter case, a collective blog.

In traditional models of communication, caring carefully the information published, and the effect this can generate revenue in the medium, while blogs networks, each author has direct access to present their vision, without an editor involved. However, not all networks of blogs are run under the same conditions, and while it raises the symbol of freedom of opinion over all else, there are always exceptions to the rule, because behind every page, there is a business .

Today there are around 40 networks of blogs in Spanish, however, business is divided among the four or six topping the list, and new proposals continue to emerge. From projects that focus on particular themes such as sports or finance, to firms that have over 15 pages very different from each other, are possible to identify. Spain is the most returned home, where stands the work of Weblogs SL, which moves more than five and a half million unique visitors per month, while the electronic delivery of the newspaper El Mundo manages 8 million.

Spain is where there is the biggest call for enterprises, as well as potential profitability of advertising. In Latin America still has not exploited this boom with equal impact, because the market itself still needs time to afford these worldviews on the Internet, being a perspective in which it may be observed geographical difference, measured by culture and experience of each market, because the reality is that since Latin America has a large competitive advantage in relation to costs in local currency and foreign income opportunities, as they are, in general, industry exportadota Software.

The role of search engines

Search engines are imposed from two perspectives. On the one hand, are part of the strategy of all successful online projects, because they are capable of generating up to 85% of traffic for each site. On the other, are vital for the blogger, to bring together various sources on the same topic in an agile way. Let us review briefly the latter, to deepen the focus then linked to the report, which refers to the search engines as a tactic of momentum of a network of blogs, although this can be applied to any Web initiative.

The search engine should be considered a basic tool of work and planning, whether you perform in a digital environment or not, because from a query, one can obtain various media sources and locations of countries on the planet enriching the construction of an independent opinion on the event. Google News is a classic version of the engine very special, because existing results based on news media, which were previously selected. Meanwhile the traditional form acts as a tornado, “index” everything in its path, and then analyze each content according to a set of parameters known only to those responsible for the search engine.

This raises the issue as Google News, also has a version based on blogs. This trend, it is also accompanied by Yahoo and other companies, but the reference that leads this field is Technoratti, mostly because it provides practical utilities to site owners, allowing them to know who talk about their content published, having been bound from other blogs.

How can an emerging network of blogs to break into an industry in itself populated with ideas and projects of various kinds? Today, it is not possible to speak of “new pioneers”, but of strategists are looking for from a serious and constant. In this context, it rises on the horizon an action plan clearer and more transparent than water: the positioning in search engines. This, also use those players who attacked the blogosphere in the days when it was uninhabited. Appear in the top 10 of search results is effective and direct business, because people entering the site, is because it responds to your need, resulting in a search. If search engines were responsible for 85% of a site, and Google represents 75% of that figure, positioning is a determining factor. However, it is easy to enter this scene, with its Directors known as SEO’s (Search Engine Optimization).

While this is not a guide to positioning is key describe the main parameters influencing the assessments carried out on engines each page. Thus, given the context, it should be emphasized the valuable combination of guidelines governing the SEO and the philosophy of the blogosphere.

- The title which is presented each article is a critical parameter, which should be composed of 5 or 7 words descriptive of the theme developed, thinking it would enter oneself to be against the form. In this way, always put a title or using metaphors expressive words can be damaging, losing visitors. However, it is best to play with a little bit of perspective, because the securities attractive to search engines, can not be very catching to the reader. Thus, in some digital media using two titles, one designed for search engine robots and another for loyal visitors to the page.

- The Page Rank (PR) was a parameter of power about five years ago at Google, allowing a page to appear for the term you want, simply by having a high PR, which gives a value between 0 and 10, being the second largest. From the abuse of this technique, it was weakened, leaving his throne but remaining as a key reference. The Page Rank is generated from the set of internal and external links on a site. On one side is the internal structure, the pattern is simple access to content, always linking to the home page and sections that cover the content, so the PR flow through the entire Web. On the other hand, include external links, which are the result of generating unique content and value in the eyes of other blogs, as described above to explain the philosophy of the connections in the blogosphere. The common scenario in practice arises when one writes an article and assigns a link to a note presented in another blog, being the latter you get a new vote of confidence, which serves to increase your PR. The goal here is that one’s blog to become the source, but it is also important to be an issuer of bonds, not only thinking about an exchange of favors, but also in the reader and the search engines themselves, who see both ways as positive values on one site.

- A third key factor in Google is given by the age of the domain, ie if you buy a dot-com and upload your page, it lacks a story, so you do not have the force would have done if it had been created five years ago and developed a range of information that other sites were assessed. Thus, a domain of ten years of age but was never used, has the same value as a new one. As with the variable on the Page Rank, the value at the age of a domain desgató with the passage of time, having had a major influence until mid-2006.

What we see in the analysis of positioning and recommendations on writing articles on a blog, is that one thing leads to another. If you write an article of 800 words, unpublished, will generate very different reactions over a 200 words and merely repeats the same thing expressed ten other blogs, because blogs in the author’s opinion prevails, and when it fails own vision about the fact, see it as both sailors seekers. The parameters that influence the valuation that search engines make each page, continually changing, but not the construction of a single text. The best optimization is one that, following the basic guidelines, not forced. Beyond that one write about a story in itself already developed dozens of sites, it is essential to shake up the information, stating what others were unable to say.

The journalist who wants to be a blogger

Work at the site of a blog network is a real option, where working conditions are as special as your own environment and style that are appearing. The journalist has not recently received the “culture blogger in training, but has the tools to incorporate it. Between the journalist and blogger raises a number of confrontations point, following the practice is done in each area:

- In journalism student is instructed in the theory and practice, to avoid the citation of sources represented by other means involving competition for which it acts. Quoting other blogs that address the same subject, is a value-added information, besides helping the search engine rankings, invites interaction with blogs suggested, either for the ciberlector know another point of view, expand the analysis and data, or credit is given to the page where you originally reported the story. In traditional media, individuality and exclusivity reigns of the media company, so today is a fantasy to find a note recommending Clarin La Nacion. However, this happens also because of the distance between a source of information and second, because while you pay for access to a journal on the Internet so it only takes one click to jump from one medium to another and back. Electronic versions of printed newspapers, are slowly adopting a more flexible about connections to external sites, but making the changes that you perceive is minimal.

- Objectivity is a premise in publishing and journalism education, while access to the articles of opinion is restricted to the main representatives of the media. In a blog, individually or collectively, each “entry” (a term that distinguishes a note), should be mixed with personal vision we have of the issue discussed. The more expressions and feelings can present the blogger, the stronger charge content, because it departs from what the structure of news stories, which usually is made on the basis (and without too many changes) to information provided by agencies like Telam, EFE , APE, and Reuters among others.

Either way, the journalist is able to incorporate the knowledge needed to serve as a blogger. On the one hand, their ability to compare various sources, helps you build an independent opinion lightly. Also, the versatility to analyze and understand each story, although it should have an area of specialization, for a sports writer can hardly write fluently in a blog on technology, and vice versa. Otherwise, the notes have no real basis, being that the blogger is governed by the premise to transmit its opinion.

Electronic journals and blogs

The vast flood of e-journals, among which can be seen Clarin and La Nacion in Argentina, El Pais and El Mundo, 20 Minutos in Spain, El Mercurio and La Tercera in Chile, among many other references, have already adopted the trend of the blog , and its main sections, devoted to this channel a specialist opinion, which brings together leading environmental journalists.

In the case of El Mercurio, shows two very interesting applications in the presentations of “Blog Editorial” and “Blog Cards”. The combination of personal blog with both traditional newspaper terms is not less. On the contrary, is an evolution of these spaces classics brought to the digital environment. 20 Minutes joined under a single category ‘Blogs / Opinion, giving appointment to all middle column.

Clarin, in turn, bets with a wide range of blogs, run by journalists, comedians and other known figures in their areas of expertise. In these contexts, the medium is about the reader, integrating the discussion. The Nation made a thorough follow-up World Cup Germany 2006 from an area of blogs, which brought together some of the most prestigious sports journalists.

Increasingly, that means accepting the motion of the blogosphere. Not all implement the same, because there are rules to follow in this regard. The blog where electronic newspaper breaks the structured information, enabling a lighter and personal development, while working as a prelude to discussions between the readers themselves.

The blog serves as a trigger for review. Bring the letter to the editor and op-ed to new forms within a channel pattern competition from international media, in which not all were able to develop successfully. The discontinuity of the site CNN in Spanish in 2004, remains a great paradox, multimedia and global vision that surrounds this giant of the news. However, the Internet was an area not economically viable as transcend left. The planning of income and expansion of a medium in the network can not be done under the same rules as those observed in traditional ways. The presence of an SEO is, for example, a crucial factor, though not so often presented as such, but as part of the marketing team, a position supposed to be ignored by the sheer ignorance. In this sense, the New York Times has in its lists to any person under the Vice President of Marketing, Corporate searches.

Digital publications are managed under rules quite different from traditional ones, without affecting the content generated by the environment. The problem arises when one understands the context in which they are working, and past experience within the graphic, television and radio, the network will require a break on multimedia and the way it is being read . El Pais newspaper took a strong position to change in late 2006, its design and strategy for one more comprehensive and current trends with regard to online, even changing its domain. Is a. Com, and presenting a rich area parallel blogging. Also during the transition in the country will be out specific SEO techniques such as redirection 301 (warning hunters moving each page according to the site), so that the least possible jump affect their place in the search engines.

Conclusions of a digital future that does not follow from its roots

The stated goal of this analysis possibly left open more questions than answers, due to the large number of developed areas, which do not have a line linear learning in any field of education. However, they are tools that you should try to add to their training. In the particular case of a student of communication, it can get started today, simply walking through one of hundreds of online services can enable you to develop and host your own blog. It’s easier to have a radio program itself, and hides a potential that can only be appreciated from the practice, speeding up the journalistic mind planner while typing and working on issues that one is passionate about. It is also the possibility to participate as an author on the page of a blog network. They constantly are in search of new opportunities for people able to add their virtual teams.

The practice of digital journalism provides a rich experience which then can translate into production on traditional channels and vice versa. Currently, it is hard to find a journalist who does not use the PC and the Internet as access to information, but the network will never replace the newspaper, as many analysts predicted that would happen many years ago-and even today many still waiting to happen – , as was also the demise of the book forward. However, in this context, blogs are not a fad but a trend that is applied in various ways. Just because you add the possibility to comment on a news story, is part of the philosophy of the blog, and that is to be analyzed. It’s not dwell on the analysis of personal pages themselves, but the features that surround them.

Chasqui publication, published by the CIESPAL in Ecuador, he devoted his copy of March 2007, the challenge faced daily with the explosion of digital media. The content of this edition, in which the writer was present this article examining the media jumped to the Internet world, it was reported that there is no explicit fight for the survival of one or other news channel. The secret is knowing how to bring these two areas of development journalism, so that the reader can benefit from the advantages of each, which also has an impact on radio and television, the latter being a new phenomenon to come this year in digital format After the success of YouTube.

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in the United States, conducts detailed reports on the future of media, readers, and the relationship that both have with the land of bits. Mario Garcia, Director of design agency, revealed for 20 minutes in the second National Congress of Publishers of Periodicals in Spain, reading the newspaper that initially will be on the mobile (cellular telephones and PDAs), then on the internet finally in the paper, noting that readers will already know the news graphics before purchasing. In this framework, described that “60% of the news appearing on the cover of U.S. newspaper Wall Street Journal are already known by readers when they get the newspaper.”

Blogs are inevitably part of the change that is affecting traditional media. Even the radio and TV have their corner in the blogosphere, from Podcasting and Vlogs (video blog) respectively. The first refers to items presented in audio format, while the second accounts for entries to a blog based on blocks of video, this is the case of Mobuzz in Spain.

Therefore, the blogs do not act only as independent companies builders view, but also their characteristics to the newspaper editors. Blogs as media companies represent an industry that morning planting bases. The question is whether those responsible for the traditional media will be able to see and understand the evolution that lies ahead, to adapt their business models and move, thus, on a preventable death.