VC Reporter interview

When I began blogging in January of this year, there were around 6 million blogs. According to Technorati, they are tracking 15.7 milion blogs at this point in time. A friend, who makes his living designing websites, told me that 28% of all internet traffic is blog traffic. The amount of people getting their news from the internet is growing every day. The "traditional" medias, newspaper and TV, are on the decline as sources of news. There is an obvious trend taking place and we are all a part of it. Journalists have diefinitely taken note of the personal web log revolution. Many feel threatened, like an actor wary of reality TV. This fear is understandable and healthy. Just like a surfer sitting out in the ocean on his board, watching a huge set of waves rolling in like a herd of buffalo, blocking out the horizon. Change is coming. {blink} Change is here.

The other day, I received an email from a reporter. Molly is writing a story for the Ventura County Reporter on local (Ventura County) blogs. She got wind of Bardo Surfer from Tyler of ojaiblog.com. She wants to inteview me and publish a Bardo Surfer excerpt.

My experience with the press has been pretty limited. The one interview that has been done on me, left me quite annoyed. No need to revisit that one. Nonetheless, I gave Molly a call this past Saturday morning. I asked Molly what the slant was going to be. She assured me that it was not investigative - just a fun expose while "everyone's on vacation". She wants to use an excerpt as well. I agreed as long as I can approve which post is utilized.

The interview lasted 27 minutes. Molly asked the basic questions and came off, over the phone, as a sweet person. One question that has stuck in my mind is: "What's the difference between a blog and a website?" This, at the time was not such an easy answer for me. I said something like: the blog is a subgenre of the website. The blog is a type of website that lends itself to interconnectivity and comes closer to the neural network that we have in our brain system. The blog is free and is less concerned with making money. The focus is on exchanging information. This can change, of course.

It sounds like the Ventura County Reporter article on local bloggers will be in the Sept 2nd issue.The Reporter distributes a minimum press run of 35,000 copies at over 700 locations throughout Ventura County including Ventura, Oxnard, Ojai, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake Village.