Last night I went down to the swanky new Victoria offices of the The Telegraph Media Group for an informal 'meet the bloggers' session. See pictures on Flikr here.
Chaired by Communities Editor Shane Richmond (above), it was attended by about 40 bloggers and new media types as well as ten or so of the Telegraph's staff bloggers. Here's what I learnt about telegraph.co.uk's blogging operation:
- there are about 48 bloggers, all of whom are staffers apart from 3 'guests'
- staffers are unpaid for the extra work, guests get a small fee
- staff bloggers say they like the freedom of being able to write more openly and use material that normally would not be published
- all copy is checked by a second person before publishing
- the staffers said PRs were not specifically targetting blog content
- everything is on the table in terms of where the telegraph is going digitally - podcasts, blogs, video etc
- perhaps the most tricky aspect was said to be that of monitoring feedback though the Telegraph took an open stance and did not wish to force commenters to register
- the website will soon open a blogging area where any reader can open a blog MySpace-style
In terms of feedback from those attending perhaps the most interesting was the large number of people wishing that more photographs were placed online. Shane Richmond agreed it would be a good idea but hinted at potential copyright problems.
Personally I am impressed that such an event was held and pleased to see how much blogging is going on. My only gripe is that the blog I really want to read - the Editor's blog - is sadly missing. But despite living in the shadow of Guardian.co.uk, the Telegraph mob are fast increasing their credibility in the online publishing scene - some of the staff seem to be enjoying it to boot!
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