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Celebrities pile in to blogs

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 07

I have an interview at a fancy hotel on Park Avenue on Monday with Arianna Huffington, the columnist and commentator. What should I ask her?

Huffington, if you missed the story, is launching that same day a blog full of posts from brand-name celebrities, from Walter Cronkite to Gary Hart and Gwyneth Paltrow. I’m sure the very idea offends lots of people who have put in years building up their own brands in the blog world. Many of them also resent us for similar reasons. We too barge into the blog world carrying a big brand, and have yet to establish our blogging bonafides.

But we’re virtual unknowns under a magazine brand. Huffington, by contrast, is mining a much more powerful vein. She’s looking to cash in on famous people whose names alone are power brands. Celebrities.

Celebrities rule. Once they establish a brand, they can range far from their specialties and sell us travel guides, memoirs of childhood abuse, exercise videos, salad dressing. In each of those areas, there are specialists infinitely more qualified, and they lose out. Fame trumps expertise.
paparazzi.jpg


If eminem came out with a (ghostwritten) guide to podcasting, he’d no doubt outsell a similar guide written by Adam Curry—a developer of the technology, and a good writer to boot.

To date, the blog world has been virtually free of outside brands, a media version of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Those who have risen to the top—folks like Doc Searls, Jeff Jarvis, Glenn Reynolds and Wonkette—got there not because they had big names, but because people read their blogs, and linked to them.

I can understand their frustration as popular culture, with its celebrities, invades their realm. You just know it’s only a matter of time before Martha Stewart, James Carville, Paris Hilton, a couple of Michael Jackson’s lawyers, and J-Lo are all blogging away. For all I know, some of them already are.

And yes, it’s true. Many of them, if not most, will pay scant attention to the true dynamics of the blog world. Chances are, they won’t read other blogs, link, or bother with responses to their postings. But this doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll fail—not if the staffers running the celebrity blogs know how to handle the work.

The good news is this. No matter how many celebrities pile into blogs, the reader still has the choice to ignore them. It’s not like Barnes & Noble, where celebrity books hog the shelves, or like TV, which parades celebs through sitcoms and commercials, and even into the news. If Paris Hilton hits the blogs, that doesn’t mean she makes her way into the ScriptingNews or Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish. She won’t get into your RSS feed unless you subscribe to her blog. In that way, the blog world is more like Netflix than Blockbuster. It caters to even the smallest niches.

Nonetheless, as the population of the blogosphere multiplies in coming years, celebrities—perhaps including those in Arianna Huffington’s stable—are sure to rise in the rankings. But that doesn’t mean that today’s blogging stalwarts will lose their audience. Many will hold onto what they have now. And who knows? Maybe some of them will become celebrities in the broader world. (Stowe, I saw a post with your picture in a Parisian bistro last week. Have you given any thought to a bistro cookbook?) —Flickr photo Flavio Perone

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Reader Comments

Amy Gahran

May 7, 2005 02:36 PM

I've got a question for you to raise: Does Huffington have any policies in place to guarantee authenticity of her celebrity guest bloggers? For instance, will their publicists, agents, or attorneys be allowed to ghostwrite or edit their postings?

Also, what about comments? Will the celebrities be encouraged or required to respond to comments?

I think being clear on these points would enhance the transparency (and thus the credibility) of Huffington's blog. Transparency is the currency of the blogosphere.

- Amy Gahran
Editor, CONTENTIOUS

Thomas Collins

May 7, 2005 02:37 PM

A few of us think Arianna and Co. may not be quite up to speed on the spirit of the neighborhood they're moving into...

http://www.quillnews.com/main/2005/04/is_arianna_sure.html

Still, good to 'em.

Jeff Jarvis

May 7, 2005 05:28 PM

Thanks for asking!...

* I'd ask whether she will include only the famous or whether she'll make some people famous.

* Did I read correctly that she has a relationship with Tribune? (Couldn't believe my eyes and perhaps I shouldn't.)

* Is she going to pay her contributors? Or is having rich people who don't need the money the smartest business model going?

* Will she share the wealth with other bloggers in other ways: Will she have a blogroll to link out and give traffic love to the bloggers she loves?

* Will she insist that the contributors link (as any blogger must) or will they merely -- as I blogged the announcement -- throw bon mots that she catches?

* Will her bloggers end up in conversations (as they must to be bloggers)?

* What's the essence of her blog -- the bon mots of the famous? the Huffington party line? the first-person People?

Aidan Wright

May 7, 2005 05:45 PM

This is a series of remarkable insights. Congratuations! I'm putting you in my RSS

Allan Jenkins

May 8, 2005 01:15 PM

Ask her what sort of ethical rules her blog will adhere to. Is she going to reveal payments? Let celebs withdraw posts? Let publicists write? Note conflicts of interest?

Huffington can ensure an "honest" blog like Bob Lutz', or end up with a character blog with honest-to-God characters.

jbr

May 8, 2005 11:48 PM

why will a celebrity blog be any different than a celeb web site? it will be just another medium for them to "connect" with their audience. sure, the celebs weren't here first and likely, won't contribute much, but the blogosphere isn't off limits to anyone. why should't a celeb have a blog?

do i want celeb blogs? not particularly, but like a celeb web page, i will merely steer clear of them. if a celeb happened to come to my blog and link to a post of mine, then i would go to a celeb blog. however, until that time, i will let them or their publicist blog in peace.

Billy

June 20, 2005 08:17 AM

If I could get some help with my online business just one celeb to back me up, maybe I could live the american dream like so many people that come to this country and make it big with the help of our goverment. can any celebs help me out

Mhan

January 29, 2006 07:39 PM

Any Celebs available for 'Flag Football,' benefiting our 'RBMD' (Race Based Employment Discrimination) Fund?

Let's end Regular & the more common actions of 'Pervasive' Race Based Employment discrimination. Let's address it and work towards ending it and have some fun in the process.

a). This may not be a popular cause but it's one that truly requires attention.
b). This is not the type of thing your 'Pub' would generally allow you to show up for however, think about it.

Read the EEOC, Supreme Court Findings and other Facts for yourself:

http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Careers/articles/hicks_discrimination_suits_soar.asp

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Job-Bias-Plaintiffs.htm

In PA: http://www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/Supreme/BiasCmte/FinalReport.pdf

Thanks for your time.
Mhanly@uQQn.com
Mhanly.

PS.
We need more software developers to address this reoccurring and growing matter.
After all this time there is only ONE program to address this matter.
(http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16040) connect to:
(http://uqqn.com/redn.html)

Jacko

June 3, 2006 09:00 PM

A great Celebrity Gossip blog is www.hollywoodgrind.com

Mr Skin

July 1, 2006 02:50 AM

As popular as blogs have become, I can't imagine them lasting very long or endangering Barnes and Noble. I think they are a fad, but here I am typing in one right now.

Celebrity Gossip Gal

April 12, 2007 12:00 AM

Why not to have everything - celebrities blogs and celebrities web-sites? They all will have their particular readers. It's all about diversity! And it will always be appreciated by the general public, who are attracted to celebrities like flies to honey.

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In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.

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