I was asked to give my thoughts on this question. Five to ten years ago that answer was much easier. Blogs started as web logs and were first person personal accounts. It was simple to differentiate between a blog entry and a written article. Now they seem to have merged together. Many wine people (owners, wine growers and winemakers) that we met, do not differentiate between writing and blogging; they refer to all writing as a blog.

We refer to our website as a publication that has a blog on it. However, it is possible to design entire websites using free blog software. We have seen blogs on winery websites that are not really blogs. They are factual accounts of something. Why did the writers refer to them as blogs?

We have experienced wine writers writing more of a blog entry for their print publication. On the other hand, there are blog entries that are much more like a print article. When Kathy and I write we do differentiate between a blog entry and article. Our blog entries have a tendency to be written with opinions, whereas our articles are more of the who, what , when , where, how and why. We’ve noticed that person doesn’t matter. Blogs are typically written in first person. Travel writing, though, is also written in the first person. Print publications, especially newspapers, have had an Opinion section for decades. Perhaps these were the first blogs.

There may be a limited perception that a wine writer is “better” than a wine blogger. However I believe this perception is fading but it is still out there. A presenter at the IWINETC this year stated that she doesn’t read blogs because they are rubbish. However she does believe that bloggers should take the WSET in order to be creditable. At the IFWTWA Conference we met an attendee that was apprehensive in allowing bloggers to join the group. She questioned the writing ability of bloggers. The group seems to favor print writers over online writers.

In reality there may be no difference between a writer and a blogger. Each are capable of voicing opinion and writing factual accounts. Both can write for traditional print publications as well as online publications.

What is your opinion? Are we writers or bloggers?

Cheers,
Terry