There is an ongoing debate out of the US regarding the influence of blogs on mainstream media. The Online Journalism Review has an article that may be of interest to US readers: To Their Surprise, Bloggers are a force for Change in Big Media.
A week ago I got an email I first thought was spam.
I had to read it twice.
It was from a psychology professor in the US asking for a link up to a survey he’d put together during a sabbatical from his position at his college.
A couple of things hit me.
I don’t know how many Phd’s are in the US. I know that Dr. Mark Byron is trying to find a teaching position. But I suspect there are a lot of them.
Did I want to link up to a prof from what appears to be a tony liberal college who is looking for attention? What did any of this have to do with me?
I did as I read his email, checked his information and did the survey.
But perhaps not for all the right reasons.
He really caught my attention when I queried him.
I would guess that I’ve contacted upwards of 25-30 individuals at websites, mailing lists, religious organizations, etc. You are the first to respond to my request. I’m really appreciative.
I was the first???? :^(
What does that say about those 25-30 professional christian organizations and individuals out there?
I asked for a blog burst, and sent a few emails out to bloggers. You responded, linked up and many other bloggers linked up as they caught wind of it.
Hey, we are the small fry.
But every link counts.
Every one.
I didn’t tell Dr. Vincent, but I a queried a couple of the professional christian big guys. Just a couple.
One I respect and enjoy, got back to me.
One.
He is far busier than many others, but he took the time to respond. Promptly too. My respect for him went up even more this week.
Hello. Professional christian people.
What is your excuse?
I can’t think of many reasons right now that you don’t have a minute.
Busy does not equal righteous.
I don’t know what good being professional believers/christians are if you can’t communicate.
A no is just fine, an acceptable, reasonable answer.
But your silence?
Do you have any idea how loudly that speaks?
Are bloggers forcing change in big media?
Don’t know, I’m staying out of that one.
Are bloggers forcing change in professional christian sites and media?
Nope.
Not that I can see much.
Maybe that isn’t our responsibility.
Because this past week, bloggers from different countries, different life styles, different viewpoints responded to each other and Mark Vincent.
I didn’t have to beg.
I didn’t have to figure out some glitzy marketing strategy.
All I had to do was ask. God bless you guys.
As of this morning, Dr. Vincent had 344 respondents.
Just 156 more.
He keeps thanking me for for the blog burst.:^(
I don’t deserve the thanks, bloggers and readers do.
And I know I don’t want to be a professional christian, it appears in this case being to busy to pay attention is a pre-requisite.
Perhaps a lesson in basic courtesy would help.
Or an extra administrative assistant.
If professional christian people want to see the of salt of the earth - pop by and read the comments under these posts.
I’m happy just being a blogger.
Thank you to every one of you from me.
You guys rock!
And you matter.
Published 4 years, 3 months agoBene, You have no idea how many times during the course of this work I’ve thought that God was really working in my life. I’ve honestly never experienced anything like it.
It has been one of the most interesting projects I’ve ever been a part of, definitely one of the most interesting weeks I’ve ever had.
12 Responses to “da big guys”
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That is an interesting article about the mainstream media and blogging. What I find interesting is that my kids (aged 15 to 29) basically take blogging for granted as a form of communication. I have yet to see an article about the next generation that gets just what the kids are doing here. Right now the High school group is basically just chit-chatting about daily life and homework, but the mere fact that they see a need to get out there on a regular basis and communicate their thoughts, feelings, and opinions to the world at large is (I think) going to change a LOT about media in the next 10 to 20 years.
I have a husband and a daughter that are both employed in the broadcast media, so maybe I have a little bias in my views about media bias. One works in public radio, the other in AM talk radio. I hear about editorial bias from both the left and the right and it is usually quite subtle - a matter of which stories are deemed news worthy, which guests are chosen to present a POV, etc. Both sides deny outright bias, it is always presented as “we try to balance things but we have to present what our listeners want”. In a blog I am aware of who my readers are but if they don’t like what I say they can go elsewhere. It isn’t as if I am making any money off the blog, after all. That may be one of the major differences, and if we reach a point where blogging becomes a commercially viable medium maybe things will change here too. But somehow I doubt it. If my 100 or so readers are interested enough in what I have to say, if I can present some kind of food for thought and maybe save a soul or two in the process, I guess that I have done what I am called to do. And in the end, isn’t that what it is about?
I think if you can acknowledge bias and present different points of view thats fine.
One difficulty with broadcasting is presentation.
You can have people skilled in their field you just can’t put on the air. They don’t present well and wind up being a case of good intentions with bad consequences.
Some blogs are a bit like that. A blogger can claim to be a gentleman, but comes across in blog posts and emails like a rude, crude adolescent in text.
I don’t buy this:
“we try to balance things but we have to present what our listeners want”.
I know that is what is said and thought, but it isn’t about the listener. It’s about the bottom line. News as a money maker puts even more on the line.
I know a couple of blogs make money out of the US, I don’t know how many or if anyone else in another country is.
I agree with you about what you say in your purpose and understanding of your blog. Blog on!
What Bene relates about my experiences with major Christian organizations is absolutely true. I have yet to hear from them… you’d think they’d have had time in 2 weeks to get through their email. Here’s my take:
1) They might have read my email and thought “this guy and/or his project is worthless, and doesn’t deserve mention on our site.” That’s fine, everyone is entitled to an opinion, and frankly I assumed that the Big Guys wouldn’t have space for even a brief mention… they must get a lot of such requests from lots of readers. In fact, my email asked “if you can’t help out, is there any chance you could recommend a more appropriate method of reaching Christians on the web?”
But couldn’t they have sent a 1-2 sentence reply… something like “We got your email, but we’re sorry we can’t help out. Good luck!” I would have been happy with that. It is disheartening to not get any sort of reply at all.
2) As Bene suggests toward the end of the post, I too suspect that perhaps they have simply not invested enough time/personnel to the issue of corresponding with those who contact them. That is an interesting problem…
Would most pastors be concerned if lots of passersby were stopping and knocking on their church’s door, only to find no answer? I’d think so! If people take the time/effort to physically find their way to a church, we (all Christians) should be receptive and make some effort to receive them. What does it mean to support mission efforts if we don’t at least receive those who come to US?
Isn’t email to a Christian site analogous? I’m not so concerned about myself– I wasnt’ there looking for Christ, just help with a survey
— but I *am* concerned about folks who might see those folks at professional Christian websites as a source of spiritual comfort or as a place to find out more information about this Jesus Christ that they’ve read about. What if they feel emboldened on one occasion to reach out and ask about Christ via email, when they ordinarily would be too timid to approach a church or pastor in person?
If that happens only one time, that is too many. I would think that an army of volunteers could ensure that every question at least got a response.
In the WORST case, they could at least set up an automated system that sends out a cheery boilerplate email reply.
The silence is indeed deafening.
Maybe there’s fodder here for a follow up study… perhaps one should systematically document the delay and/or nonresponse rate to such inquiries.
That’ll have to wait for another day, I have my plate full with data at present.
Mark
Last month I decided to settle down in a particular church. Later, in the course of surfing the church’s website, I found they have a Young Adults Pastor but the website has no mention of any Young Adults Fellowship or any other activities involving young adults.
So I emailed the church, using the feedback form on their website, asking specifically for more information about the young adults ministry. I stated that I’m twenty-six years old and new to the church.
I also enquired about receiving counselling, although I didn’t say for what.
And I left both my email address as well as my mobile phone number so that they would be able to get in touch with me easily.
Guess what? It’s been two weeks and I’ve yet to receive a reply to my email…
my experiences in sending email to big christian sites have been the opposite of those cited here. I have emailed EWTN, the center for Catholic bioethics in Boston MA, Envoy magazine (which has a blog, BTW), Priests for Life, One More Soul - and have gotten replies from all of these folks within 2 working days. I have not tried to contact any Protestant sites nor any local parishes or dioceses, though.
I wonder if Protestant - Catholic does figure into the equation somehow? I mean in terms of being established and funding.
We tend to forget the pro-active and notice the silence. Maybe it’s cultural, I honestly don’t know.
My dad (a pastor) has experienced this. He contacted the local head offices of the denomination to find out if he could bring an overseas group out here to hold worship seminars across the country, at their own expense. He wanted to share what he’s learnt and experienced elsewhere, and help the churches here to grow and change positively.
He got absolutely no response.
When he phoned directly after a few months of trying, there was no apology, just a “no”. This from former colleagues who should have had the decency to at least say something in reply!
Unfortunately this kind of reaction is so widespread globally, that we almost expect it.
I am sorry.
I expected there would be experiences like the one you just told in the comments here Michelle.
I don’t know whether I’m angry, frustrated, irritated or sad. All.
Disgusted too.
We do expect it, but I’m not sure we have to accept it. There isn’t much we can do to help these organizations and individuals understand, is there?
It probably depends on the case. In irene’s case, where she also has direct contact to the church, it’s more likely that change will happen.
You were also asking earlier whether it’s cultural. Yes, it is. It’s common not to answer email, phone messages, mail, when you have a negative answer in the US. (I hate that when doing a job search…). This is one of the cases where we Christians should not go with the culture we live in.
I was cleaning up my email “sent” folder when I came across an email I’d sent to another church way back in Sept last year. I wrote saying that I had been surfing their website coz I wanted to drop by for Sunday service, and noticed that the sermons had not been updated since Oct 2002. I recommended using blog software to upload sermons, as it would be easy to use and would automatically archive sermons by date as well as topic (category), making it easy for people who wanted to search the database for information. I provided a short list of blogs by pastors so that they could see what this blogging thing was all about, and I told them how I believed posting sermons online could be a valuable resource not only for Christians, but also non-believers who may be exploring the faith or led all unknowingly to the church’s webpage through a search engine.
I never heard back from the church. Since then, only one new sermon has been added to the archive… dated Jan 4 this year.
Someone remind me what’s the purpose of having a church website, again?