Let’s cut to the chase: it doesn’t take a genius to work out that this business we’re in, like just about any other you care to mention, is going through some harsh times right now and facing some tough choices ahead.
It’s also blindingly obvious that one of the major ways that we, as journalists, can continue to play a meaningful role is to take every oppoprtunity to master all the tricks in the book when it comes to reaching our audience wherever they may be and whenever they may be there. Which is a round-about way of saying we need to get online, offline, mobile, outside, inside, upside, downside… whatever it takes to make sure that we are able to communicate as very best we can.
Multi-tasking, cross-platform journalism is about to become a reality, not just a watchword - if, indeed, it hasn’t already.
But, just because I’m a mischievous imp and just because Charlie Francis sent me this link and it was so brilliantly written, I thought I’d share one very good journalist’s feverishly hilarious take on that blackest of black arts, SEO.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation which, if you’re not familiarr with the term, is a geeky way of describing a method whereby you can best ensure that all your words of wisdom reach the widest audience possible by using the words and tags that online search engines search for.
Which is a good thing, right? Right. But what it does do is change the way we look at how we communicate and turns the “art” of writing into something more of… well, a “science” really. Which is not necessarily music to everyone’s ears, especially as it suits some of us very nicely to go around convinced that every single word that flows from the metaphoriocal pen is a muse-donated drop of sheer glistening poetry. Like, no machine’s gonna tell me what to write, right? What am I? Some kind of robot?
I jest, of course. Journalism by its very nature is the “art” of crafting a story so effectively, efficiently and entertainingly that as many people as possible can enjoy it. And SEO is just a new tool in our box.
But learning to live with it and love it may not be a stroll through the park for some, especially those who are still recovering from having their sovereignty as a writer challenged by the web’s insistence that we replace publishing our opinions “at” people with a new, more democratic process of engaging in conversations “with” our readers.
Anyway, here’s Charlie Booker’s personal take on SEO:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/21/charliebrooker.pressandpublishing