Formula 1 News and Views 31/08/2007 Regular readers will know that this site now has a news partner in the form of Formula1Sport dot net. In the past, I have pointed out that trying to blog in competition with the news sites is a tough proposition, since they get extra privileges from their sources as they are seen as "accredited journalists". Mere bloggers have to work that much harder to keep up as a result.The concept of accredited journalists is a hangover from print days and it will disappear as online journalism demonstrates its greater flexibility and speed. Most news sites merely copy and paste stories from a central source anyway and there is no real journalism involved. This is hilariously demonstrated today by a story entitled Ten teams extend Monza test; most of the news sites have the headline but, in fact and as the first word of the article asserts, there are only nine teams staying at Monza. At Formula1Sport we actually read the articles before we post and so our headline is amended to be correct in its math.Such gifts from the blogging gods are fairly rare, however, and we have to use other methods to compete with the might of the F1 news sites. And that means interactivity; the blog's comment system can provide a degree of reader involvement that is lacking in the traditional sites. Supposing that my internet habits are fairly representative of the average, I know that I visit a news site once a day to catch up on the news but, when moved to comment on a blog post, I return several times to read responses and become involved in any discussions that result.To utilize this advantage of the blog, I have been commenting on the articles at Formula1Sport as I posted them; my original intention was to add my bit at the bottom of the post but the demands of speed soon put paid to that idea - instead, the comments system beckoned. And I have been amazed at the response. Suddenly a large part of my day is taken up with replying to the comments that flood in to the blog and some excellent discussions have developed.I don't mind the extra work this entails; in fact, I love it. Any F1 fan enjoys debate on the subject and so I'm doing what I enjoy and heightening the profile of the blog at the same time. It is early days yet but these are encouraging signs that Formula1Sport can become a necessary stop in the F1 fan's itinerary whenever he ventures online.The next step is to bring F1 Insight and Formula1Sport closer together by providing buttons that can take readers quickly between the two. In this way, we will be able to provide news, comment and opinion in a tight little package. Hopefully, you will become used to the idea of reading the news at Formula1Sport, commenting on anything that interests you, and then hopping over to Insight to read my latest pontification (and argue with my sometimes-extreme viewpoint).Why am I telling you all this? Because without you, both sites are pointless - it's your input that makes the thing worth doing. And that means you have a right to know what is going on and then have your say!
Clive
Dan M That site will definently be going into the "Bored at Work" favorites! (no offense)I love this blog and I'm sure the news is just as 'insightful'. I've been a little fed up with Pitpass and their lack of interesting and relevant news ( not to mention S Speed bashing).So this give me yet another time sink, between this site F1Fanatic and now Formula1sport work should be a little less tedious. Date Added: 31/08/2007
Clive Thanks for the kind words, Dan. And for all your contributions to discussions, including those over at F1 Fanatic. You keep me honest, that's for sure! Date Added: 31/08/2007
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