Reality Blogs, Dueling Banjos, Wrestling Melee

Blogs invite self expression. Two blogs cross linked in hot debate become dueling banjos. Hundreds of blogs join. Does it have the same excitement as a wresting melee? This is reality journalism.

The Soloist

Flirtatious blogs aside, traditional writing is introspective - a sole searching process. The form can be a diary, short stories or poems, emerging novel, or captioned photos. 

For these blogs, it's difficult to build a fan base beyond family and friends. Despite the challenge, hundreds of blogs have been discovered by global voyeurs.

Dueling Banjos

YouTube - 'Deliverance' - 'Dueling banjos' scene One of the more memorable scenes in the movie. Made a one-hit ...

YouTube - Dueling Banjos Guitar Hero 2 The Dueling Banjos from Deliverance kick the living bejeezus ...

When two blogs compete with view points, fan interest increases. The blogs can be cross linked by explicit references, comments in posts, or social media portals like Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Techmeme, or Technorati. 

Like friendly, competitive banter between Siskel and Ebert, Hannity & Colmes, New York Times and Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner, and "The Iron Chef" on the Cooking Channel - public controversy is a proven format for audience expansion.

YouTube - Siskel and Ebert Uncensored I don't know how these guys got along behind the camera ...

Wrestling Melee

What happens when dozens of blogs join a conversation? Wrestling melees, roller derbies, drag racing, football contests, Golf Channel's 'Big Break', or the top 'American Idol' - when many stars share a stage in competitive banter, the combined fans can be millions.

Stars sharing a stage create instant conferences. Compare online political discussions to op-ed, collaborative sports bar-like conversations to sports news, distributed business dirt collection to another regurgitated Wall Street quarterly report - is it really surprising that reality journalism draws more fans?

Social tools spread hot conversation - instantly. 

View	NEWS: Microsoft Bidding for Yahoo-The Soap Opera

View	Instant Conversation Among Techcrunch, ReadWriteWeb, and Silicon Alley Insider on Craigslist

View	The New Internet Roles with Social Media

View	Feeds, Weeds, Reads, and User Needs

Conclusion

Join the online conversation. Read and clip. Post in your blog.

Anyone can blog.