read out daily so that real opinions get on the show. The Sky News Blog Sky CEO Rupert Murdock has discovered the wonders of the Internet and has placed particular interest on social media and blogging. His interest brought him a step further when he bought various on-line companies including Intermix and http://IGN.com. Not one to be left out from the fun, Sky came out with its first blog in an attempt to connect with its audience. It is widely believed that Sky’s acquisition of Tim Levell, the former editor of the BBC Action Network, had a lot to do with this move. In fact, he has provided some of the posts found in the blog. The blog is personally led by Sky News at 5 anchorman Jeremy Thompson. It thankfully looks and feels like a real blog which cannot be said for many other things that call themselves blogs. This is actually Sky’s first attempt at blogging but it seems to have succeeded in avoiding the most obvious pitfalls related to it. This blog is designed to be identifiable and distinct from the channel’s news website offering. Whereas the news website and TV channel delivers news, blogs explain how and why such news are being delivered. This is what is usually referred to as “back channel conversational content”. However, since the launch of the blog coincides with the relaunch of Sky News as a whole, discussion on topics not necessarily thought provoking such as the show’s new set have been occupying considerable space in the blog. Conversations regarding the process of how editorial decisions are arrived at for example are probable discussion of interest to readers. Large companies and organizations who have managed to establish web presence need to maintain strong control of their blogs. This would necessitate hosting those blogs within their own domain space. Hosting a blog on a third party might not be able to provide seamless integration with the rest of a company’s website. There are important aspects to be considered such as quality control and availability. A site that goes down or begins to bug-out necessarily affects the individual reputation of companies. The blogosphere is quite partial to personality led blogs. This is one of the reasons why the Sky News blog works. However, it could benefit from more posts written by Jeremy Thompson. The blog encourages as many people as possible to take part in the discussion of various topics. The company has adopted a light touch policy which essentially allows for any comments as long as it is
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.