Blogs generate bucks for old media.

Meg Hourihan demonstrates yet another way that blogs are being used as revenue generators, not for the individual blogger, but for companies. This piece was written in 2002, and many things she predicts within the post have indeed come to pass, most notably in the hallowed halls of old print media.

My hometown paper, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, hosts numerous blogs by staff and community members on its website. Whereas real estate on the printed page is at a premium, digital content can be limitless in quantity. So we get a more personal, opinion-driven look at local sports teams, social issues, and the state of the world, complete with tons of feedback from the community.

Newspapers have to do this sort of thing to slow their increasing irrelevance. Blogs, and the style of writing they use, do a better job of reaching the internet generation than "old fashioned oratory." Plus, their content and tone can be modified constantly, as needed. They bring readers and generate increasingly large amounts of ad revenue.

Another interesting thing about old fashioned media using the blog is the legitimacy it lends to the medium. It's hard for media critics to dismiss the blog as a vehicle of amateur hacks when some of the most respected journalists in the country keep them.