We had a #tweetdebate on whether a blogger is a journalist of not. After the debate it was clear that there isn’t any single answer. A blogger can be a journalist if he/she wishes but, the blogger can also be anything else.

That is confusing. Before defining a blogger, let me write down the 12 characteristics of a blogger (I know there are others, please add more in comment):

1. A blogger is a person. It can be you, me, or a random guy on the street.
2. A blogger today might not be a blogger tomorrow
3. A blogger today mightn’t have been a blogger yesterday
4. Every journalist can be a blogger but every blogger can’t be a journalist

A blogger might seem to know everything

5. A blogger might seem to know nothing
6. A blogger might not have a name or an address or a contact number
7. A blogger might be a team of bloggers (there is no way to know)
8. A blogger usually have a second job to pay for living (Journalists usually don’t)
9. A blogger can survive without a single reader (sustainability can be questioned)
10. A blogger can write a post every day, or every week, or every month, or every year. It might also be one post in the life-time.
11. Most of the bloggers say they post blog posts for fun (are you serious?).

For these reasons, most of the blogs go unnoticed, un-managed, and too personal for most to even care for.

Now, let’s seek the definitions of a blogger:

• Dictionary.com says a blogger is – "a person who keeps and updates a blog."
• A blog is – a website or part of website which, "A frequent, chr
  onological publication of personal thoughts and Web links."

Can such a creature be confined in an organization? Can any organization have an authority over such a random creature as a blogger?

The biggest question is can somebody’s "personal thoughts" be regulated? It probably can’t. That might be the reason Tim O’Reilly’a proposed seven code of conducts don’t mention the word ‘Ethics’ in them!

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say in person.

Reference:

• Tweetdebate – Is blogger a journalist?
• Ujjwal – Code of ethics for bloggers
• Tim O’Reilly’a proposed seven code of conducts
• Wikipedia on blog