Barry Schwartz posted something of a rant at Search Engine Roundtable after an unnamed blogger attacked the site’s live blogging coverage of PubCon:
This guy calls live blogging, “useless” and “inaccurate.” He goes on to say what we do is “selfish disregard for reporting integrity.” To call live blogging “selfish,” oh, that makes me mad. To call the 38+ conferences we’ve flown to, paid hotel costs, sometimes paid conference passes for, “selfish.” To call the dumbing, incredibly tiring and exhausting work it is to sit there, session after session, to write down the words that come out of speakers mouths, no matter if you disagree with them or if you find them boring – or, even worse, love what they are saying, but are too consumed in typing down what they are saying to have the time to actually appreciate the words of wisdom – to call that “selfish” (long sentence, sorry, been up for over 24 hours).
Like most forms of media, live blogging has its advantages and disadvantages, and Barry Acknowledges that. While he may have gotten a little more fired up about the criticism of a relatively new-to-the-game blogger than necessary, his rant does bring up a good subject of debate. Is live blogging worth it? Is it worth it to readers? Is it worth it to live bloggers? Is it a legitimate way to report?
It just so happens that Barry included a poll asking readers if Search Engine Roundtable should give up live blogging. The results at this time are as follows:
For the record, I voted no.
People want information, and they want it as soon as possible. Live blogging achieves this. Errors occur, but they do so in other formats as well. And when you’re reading the product of live blogging, you should take this into consideration anyway.
Search Engine Roundtable has been live blogging conferences for years. We were doing it a long time ago too, and we still live blog some stories from time to time, like the recent Google conference call. I don’t recall getting many complaints, and I’m quite sure that many people have enjoyed this kind of coverage over the years. What do you think about live blogging?
