Is blogging for money “right” or “wrong” or neither?

For as long as I have been involved in the new media scene there has been a rather consistent bit of (mostly) health debate about the negative V. the positive effects of the “monetizing” new media such as blogs, podcasts, vlogs, etc.  My stance has always been that I see nothing wrong with making money as a by-product of creating new media content, BUT I see making new media content only to make money as horrid.

I say this because IMHO

->If people make new media content ONLY to make money

–>Than there really is very little difference between new media and old media, which would be a shame because I really believe that new media was created because new media was not meeting the needs of many a niche audiences that were not being meet by old media.

I even gave a talk about this in regards to podcasting at Podcasters Across Borders in 2007

Anyway, this weekend I saw something that really made me happy over on the blog of one of my heroes, a man named Doc Searls…

“Right now online advertising is a river of gold flowing out of the ground in California, and millions of bloggers — along with countless new and traditional businesses — are rushing to grab some. In addition to the other economy-distorting consequences of this rush, it is corrupting blogging’s original nature, which is amateur in the best sense or the word. Amateur is derived from amatorem, the Latin word for lover.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with making money by blogging. I am saying there’s something wrong with blogging mostly to make money, or to let advertising determine the purpose of your blog and what you say with it. If your business is the latter, you’re flogging, not blogging.

There is an old and subtle distinction here. Businesses and professions at their best are ways to pursue passions and organize talents — not just to make money. Of course they can’t thrive unless they make money. But few of us go into business just saying “I can’t wait to return value to my shareholders.” Investors are the main exceptions, but the best of those know that human passions other than greed are at the heart of every good business.”

For me (and I’m only speaking for myself here) new media is very much about creating a contribution, a way to GIVE BACK to the network of people on the internet.  Doing new media as an amateur is NOT something to be looked down on.  In fact I’d argue that it is something to be celebrated, because it is such authentic forms of expression for expressions own sake.

I sort of look at new media the same way that I look at musicians.  I don’t see anything at all wrong with a musician getting paid to make music.  But, (just as Doc said) I think that most musicians make music out of a love of making music, rather than out of a love of getting paid to make music.

i.e. getting paid is a by-product of creating good music / content.

I believe that when people who make music or new media focus too much on the monetary aspect of content creation and distribution they frequently lose sight of creating quality content for its own sake.

If the authentic joy that flows from self expression is diminished, or disappears all together, the quality of the content sufferers as well.

Am I making sense?

~[[Side Note]]~

To reinforce a point from a earlier post on this blog: Comments are one of the best resources on blogs!  The comments section of the post on Doc’s blog is totally AMAZING.  Take a look at just a two of the gems from over there…

“people who are paid to say something are different than people who have something to say.”

-Terry Heaton

“I’ve also been paid to say many things, though always to say what I believe. It’s a good market to be in — to say what you believe, because others like it and want it to be heard more widely. From the buyer’s perspective, however, I’m a person who’s paid to say something. Does that make me different from a person who has something to say?”

-Doc Searls

This post grew out of a comment that I made on Doc’s post… After I wrote it ideas continud to bounce around inside my head, and I wanted to suss them out a bit more… and this post happened.

~[[End Side Note]]~

-N

Podcast: Play in new window | Download