BBC Enters Blogosphere With Blog by Nick Robinson

Posted on December 10, 2005

WebProNews reports on the BBC's launch of Nick Robinson's Newslog. The WebProNews article says the blog is the first from the BBC with complete BBC branding. The root URL blogs.bbc.co.uk could also be the beginning of a network of blogs from the BBC.

One major difference between the two blogs -- Mason's was very much a personal blog with a look-and-feel that was far from a BBC standard. Unlike Robinson's, which has the complete BBC branding in its presentation and clearly is a formal part of the overall BBC web presence. Indeed, its root URL (blogs.bbc.co.uk) indicates that.
First podcasting, and now blogging. It looks like the BBC is beginning to embrace new media in a big way as a means of engaging with its viewers/listeners/readers in a variety of different ways, traditional and non-traditional.
Will we see a blog portal, an offering to those viewers/listeners/readers to create their own blogs as part of the BBC blog domain? I think it would make total sense in the engagement process.

With the BBC and New York Times (see earlier post) adding to a growing list of blogging media organizations that includes ABC News and MSNBC, 2006 should be the year the mainstream media makes a serious push into the blogosphere and grabs back some of the traffic it has lost. But it won't be able to get it all back because the independent blogosphere will continue to contribute interesting content and ideas.