[Sosfbay-discuss] Lessons learned blogging

[Gerry Gras]

Very good!

May I forward your email to the GPCA CC?

(I assume you have already said something like this to the
media committee.)

Gerry


Wes Rolley wrote:

> As you all know, I have a blog devoted to tracking my favorite
> congressman, Richard Pombo. You can all access it at
> http://www.refpub.com/PomboWatch/ The latest takes apart a House
> Resources Committee partisan publication, digging into where it spins,
> obfuscates and outright lies. I call it spinning cow pies.
> 
> The reason that I mention this is that I am beginning to see the signs
> of what an organized campaign can do, with a little thought.
> 
> Over the last 3 months, I have been agressive about posting my comments
> to other blogs and getting LTEs into such disparate papers as the Tracy
> Press and the Modesto Bee, always with a link to PomboWatch. As a
> result, the number of viewers is slowly climbing. From aound 20 per day
> in September, to over 30 per day in Octber to over 40 per day this
> month. That number represents an average of unique, different internet
> addresses that visited the site after throwing out all the search engine
> indexing stuff.
> 
> That suggest to me that it would be possible to utilize the same
> techniques, focused on other local elections tied to specific issues. An
> analysis of the statistics tells me what links brought the most traffic.
> It shows me when journalists are using the site, and that is a bigger
> advantage than having my letter published.
> 
> The really dirtly little secret of journalism is that reporters are so
> pressed for time, and need that for writing, that whenever I can provide
> them with an analysis that they can use, it will show up eventually.
> This is a realtionship that needs to be nurtured with care and
> understanding what each of us gets out of it. My feeling that this is,
> in the long run, much more effective than just sending out press
> releases that may never be read. All of my time goes into research and
> writing...and building those relationships.
> 
> Within the last 2 days, I have had 2 columnists write to me about the
> columns that they were working on, one of them from the Stockton Record,
> the biggest paper in Pombo's District. Next I think that I will see what
> I can do about my supervisor, Don Gage, who never saw a development plan
> he didn't think great.
> 
> 
>