The Backpacker Blogger
Sitting in Online News, we are asked to look up a blogger for a mainstream media website.
There are two others in my group, and we decide to look at “The Backpacker” who blogs for the Sydney Morning Herald.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blog/the-backpacker
What a fantastic blog! Ben Groundwater’s blogs are compelling, exciting, funny and real.
Apparently, Ben has travelled to more than 60 countries, and been a professional writer for ten years. A travel writer… Ahhh living the dream.
The comments posted on his site are moderated by Fairfax, as it spells out in the General Terms of Use.
“We reserve the right (but have no obligation) to:
- review, modify, reformat, reject or remove any Material which you upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available (or attempt to upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available) that, in our opinion, violates the Conditions or otherwise has the potential to harm, endanger or violate the rights of any person”
(http://www.fairfax.com.au/conditions.html)\
The blogger, Ben Groundwater, inspires his readers to comment on his posts by asking questions and letting them tell their own stories.
The abililty to post comments, however, is “a bit clunky,” according to our Lecturer, Jason Wilson.
You must sign up with an email address, tick a few boxes, read the terms and conditions and then BAM! You’re able to try and get your comment posted.
Although his site is a good read, he does not successfully create conversation, and he does not involve himself in the comments posted to his blog.
On Ben’s twitter account, he does not link back very often to stories on the SMH website, and he does not create conversation here either. He updates every so often, making us all jealous by telling us, “Drinking my first cafe cortado in Buenos Aires! Steak and malbec tonight. Damn I love this city.”
Damn, I wish I could be that right now!
** You can follow Ben on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/bengroundwater
Or read his other blog- http://bengroundwater.com/
