Bloggily Blonde: The Self-Appointed A-List

Adam Tinworth
Adam Tinworth

Been meaning to link this little anecdote from The Constant Observer for a few days now*:

> The young woman–some tall blond 20 something thing–who was bemoaning that she needed more “attention” at her blog. So I said, rather jokingly “Flame an A-lister.” I don’t know…I did it and it worked for me 😉 But I was absolutely stunned when she said, not jokingly, “Oh, I’m considered an A-lister, so that won’t work.” > > *Considered an A-lister*? wow. I’d been on a panel at BlogHer, with a bunch of great women, and I’ve had a bunch of speaking engagements over the past year, and worked on a pretty significant project that’s been recognized by the Knight Foundation, I wouldn’t *consider* myself an A-lister.

Two thoughts occur. The first is shallow, unworthy of me, and consists of a small amount of disappointment that a post about a tall, blonde 20-something wasn’t accompanied by a photo. The second, slightly more noble response is: “My goodness, don’t some of the new wave of pro- or semi-pro bloggers take themselves seriously?” I know that could easily be construed as a kettle/pot/black response from a professional journalist but hey, it takes one to know one.

I saw a little of this at [BlogHer Business](http://www.onemanandhisblog.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-search.cgi?tag=blogher%20business&blog_id=1&IncludeBlogs=1) in New York earlier this year, and was quite taken aback by some of the questions asked by the newer bloggers there, and how much they resembled the sort of questions journalists ask when shoved in front of Movable Type and told to get on with it. For one, they tend to ignore the idea of linking to the competition (ie bloggers on the same topic as them) because they’re afraid of losing traffic. That’s exactly the sort of thing that the much-maligned hacks say, and which blogging experience tells us is not a problem (quite the reverse, in fact).
Be interesting to see if this trend continues or reverses over the next year…
*Fair warning: there will be a few posts of the “meaning to link for a few days” variety in the next 48 hours.
a-listblogherblogher businessJournalistsnew bloggers
Adam Tinworth

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Adam is a digital journalism lecturer, trainer and writer. He's been a blogger for over 20 years, a journalist for 30 and teaches audience strategy and engagement at City St George’s, London.

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Adam Tinworth

Adam is a digital journalism lecturer, trainer and writer. He's been a blogger for over 20 years, a journalist for 30 and teaches audience strategy and engagement at City St George’s, London.