I’ve just made a written agreement (on Twitter of all places!) that I will write at least one post for Tech IT Easy per week! The reason is of course partly time-constraints — I have plenty of other ventures I am active in and excited about — but particularly maintaining a certain level of quality, which I think is very dependant on taking the time to think, research, think, write, re-write, be humorous, personable, and informative at the same time. The reason is also because I see my role on this blog as more editorial than journalistic.

Now, an editor may be perceived as the person screaming at all the journalists to get their act together, and editing other people’s work (think Spider-man’s or Superman’s bosses). That is not what an editor is to me, and I have no desire to fulfil that role here. No, in fact every blogger on Tech IT Easy is at least in part an editor.

The editor is the person who writes about the big picture, which comes from looking at both the front-line and at the long-term. But an editor also takes the role of a leader of a certain publication, the blog-post he or she publishes. And being a leader means to both creating quality content and engaging in discussion about it if your readers so desire.

But a blogger can also be a journalist, which entails being present on the front-lines and reporting back as stuff happens. It is important to be relevant, and that often involves talking about current affairs. Being a journalist requires a constant presence, quick thinking and writing, a combination of both having guts and taking the glory. To some extent I actually think that short-messaging-services like Twitter and Jaiku are more suitable for this, and I foresee that live-reporting from events will eventually take this format (note to Twitter: you will need to open up your API for pictures, video and audio to compete).

But there’s also another side to journalism, interviews with interesting personalities and (mini-)casestudies, to which again blogs offer a superior solution. Note that I do not include re-blogging other people’s stories into this. Unless you add something original, that is not journalism.

Everyone on Tech IT Easy is in part editor and in part journalist. He or she takes responsibility for a publication and for providing the content. The difference is actuality. If you try to be current, you will naturally have less time to think about the big picture. And if you have a day-job or a personality like mine, you will have less time for actuality. This a fine balance and a constant challenge for everyone, and I imagine it will never change.

In any case, whatever choice a blogger makes, it is a great learning experience. I don’t want to call it a personal marketing-experience, as I don’t believe in that. Blogging alone won’t get you your next job or make you famous. Instead blogging makes you smarter, and because of that smarter people will respect you and will want to work with you. So it’s not just a question of producing text, it’s a question of producing a complete picture of text, personality, actuality, intelligence, humour, and plain-and-simple information.

Let me conclude with outlining the advantages of being a blogger on Tech IT Easy:

• You will have a chance to write out your thoughts and experiences, which will teach you to communicate better with others and yourself.
• You will receive feedback (hopefully), which will teach you if you are being stupid or smart, clear or unclear.
• You are engaging in an exercise of personal growth.
• If you are running a local blog, it will give you a chance to appeal to a wider audience.
• You will gain both insights into what it means to be an editor and what it means to be a journalist.
• You are surrounded by talented people, both bloggers and readers, who can help you in other ventures as well.
• You will be able to write about your passions and get to know new ones.
• You will work in an international team, in a virtual environment, and find out what that feels like.
• and much, much more!

Now, of course this was an advert. But if it worked, please write us at techiteasyblog@gmail.com and join our team!

With best regards,

Vincent and the TIE-team