Do you have your own blog? If not, you should

We start this week by highlighting Adam Westbrook's series on the importance of blogging.

He talks about how blogging has taken off in the last six years and everyone, from journalists to students, policemen to prostitutes, have started keeping a blog. As he says, blogging has transformed from a revision-avoiding-hobby into a career changer.

He himself has gained work from it, talking at events and training other people, although he admits the blogging doesn't provide a direct income yet.

He also details the six types of people who really should have a blog. Are you in the list?

1) Field specialists - It’s a great place, writes Adam, to update new ideas and gives you a platform for research which might not make it to the mainstream. See Ben Goldacre as an excellent example of specialist blogging.

2) Freelance journalists - if your blog isn't on your own website with portfolio, it should at least be linked to it. If it's interesting enough, you may get commissions based on it and it's a good sounding board for story ideas.

3) Foreign or Hyperlocal correspondents - the simple use is to keep people updated with where you are or you can produce your own news service if you're really motivated. We recently mentioned the journalist Ed Lucas, whose own efforts are a masterclass in online journalism.

4) Journalists working for a big organisation - unsurprisingly, the BBC provides the gold standard for this category - the likes of Robert Peston and Nick Robinson have popular blogs, as well as the BBC's own online team. Adam writes how not only can a blog help you connect with your audience, it can build you a community of fans, and even turn into a source for stories and case studies.

5) Journalists with other interests - the long working hours can make you lose track of your personal life, so this might be the way forward. As Adam states, it keeps you writing and helps you practice audience engagement (vital skills for journalists) – as well as helping you pursue your personal interests.

6) Journalism students - this may be the most obvious of the bunch but Adam describes how using the time you have in your studies to develop an online presence may be the difference between getting a job or joining the unemployment crowd.

Friday round-up: lessons from Brazil, going straight to the source and writing like J.K Rowling

Protecting the print product when you go online

We start with a story from the WAN-IFRA editors' blog on how the southern Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora has created a proactive online strategy that will protect its print edition, a product that got 2% circulation bump last year.

Zero Hora has 210 journalists working in its integrated newspaper. Although there are specific teams allocated to print and online, these teams are fluid and journalists are expected to understand the work of others and be flexible in what they do.

Speaking to the blog Editor in Chief Altair Nobre says that as a result of the internet newspapers constantly have to strive to be more original and creative, working harder to convince people to read the paper.

The online version is designed to be very interactive. For example, the Porto Alegre region has a rather unstable climate, explains Nobre, and so Zero Hora editors invite readers to send in pictures and short reports when there are storms.

Other key factors in the paper's success come from having a "young attitude" which attracts new readers from the younger generations and having a carefully planned out social media presence.

Ben Goldacre calls for unedited source material on one website

Journalism.co.uk is one of many to highlight Dr. Ben Goldacre's suggestion for a website that would have a variety of features to improve media transparency over their primary sources for certain stories as well giving readers “unmediated/unedited access to full comments from interested parties”.

The Bad Science author (pictured) suggested the site could do the following:

• Give each news story a unique ID;
• Any involved party can add/upload a full press release or quote to that story’s page;
• Anyone can add a link to a primary source;
• Anyone can vote these up or down like on digg/reddit;
• You can register as a “trusted source” and not need to be modded up or down;
• Anyone can add a link to media coverage of that story.

Who do you write like?

Finishing on a lighthearted note, if you grew up hoping to be the next Hunter S. Thompson, there's a handy little web tool that lets you analyse your writing and see which famous scribe you are most like.

I Write Like takes a pasted bit of text and compares it to the writings of hundreds of famous authors, giving you a result in seconds.

As one college media blogger points out, the results vary wildly depending on which text you submit. For example yours truly writes like Chuck Palahniuk, H.P. Lovecraft and J.K Rowling depending on which blog post is submitted.

It's all a bit of fun for a wet Friday afternoon. Just don't come crying to me if you're told you write like Barbara Cartland.