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You know, I’ve been staring at screens for what feels like a lifetime. Twenty years behind a desk, watching the world get weirder, watching the news cycle go from a gentle hum to a screaming banshee with its hair on fire. Remember when a story broke and you had, what, maybe a day to process it? Now, every two minutes some numpty with a phone flings out another half-baked thought, and it’s treated like gospel for about five minutes. It’s a right mess, it is. All this chatter. This “whatutalkingboutwillis blog” nonsense, it ain’t new. Folks have always had somethin’ to say. Just now, everyone’s got a megaphone the size of Texas. And a lot of it, pure dross.
The Great Content Ocean, Or Just A Puddle?
See, they talk about content. “Content is king,” they say. More like content is that bloke down the pub who never shuts up. Everyone’s cranking it out. Blogs, videos, podcasts, little snippets of text that are supposed to be profound but end up sounding like a broken fortune cookie. My first thought, usually, is who’s reading all this? Who’s got the time? When I first started out, it was simple: you wrote a story, fact-checked it till your eyes crossed, then sent it to print. Now, the metrics are all about ‘engagement’ and ‘reach’ and other fancy words for ‘did anyone even skim this before scrolling past?’
Take your big digital marketing outfits, the kind that gobble up smaller agencies like peanuts. You got your WPP, right? Massive. They own Ogilvy, Grey Group. All these smart folks churning out campaigns. Then Publicis Groupe, another giant. Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi under their umbrella. I sit here and I see what they put out, and sometimes I wonder if they’re just trying to out-volume each other. It’s a race to the bottom, I reckon. Just more noise. And then you get the little guys, the independent freelancers, trying to make a name for themselves in that same ocean. Good luck, mate. It’s a shark tank out there.
Why Authenticity’s The Real Gold
What’s the actual value in it all? Authenticity. That’s where the money’s at, if you ask me. Not the fake kind, mind you. Not some influencer paid to shill a laxative tea looking like they just won the lottery. I mean the real stuff. The bloke who knows his stuff, tells it straight, no fluff. That’s what people actually stick around for. They’re tired of the shiny, airbrushed nonsense. You see it on Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, same old filters, same old poses. And TikTok, well, that’s another beast entirely. Short attention spans, quick hits. You blink, you miss it. But even there, the genuine, oddball character, the one who doesn’t try too hard, they stand out. They always do.
I remember this one time, a kid came into the newsroom. Straight out of uni, bright as a button, full of ideas about ‘synergy’ and ‘leveraging platforms’. He wanted to know how to “monetize his personal brand.” I just blinked at him. “Son,” I said, “your ‘brand’ is your bloody reputation. Earn it.” See, that’s what this whole “whatutalkingboutwillis blog” thing needs to remember. It’s not about the fancy words or the algorithms. It’s about being real. You build trust, piece by piece. Don’t get me wrong, technology helps. Google, YouTube, they’ve changed everything for sure. But they don’t change human nature. People want to connect, simple as that.
The AI Craze: A Load Of Hot Air, Or A Proper Storm?
Now, let’s talk about this AI business. Everyone’s wetting their pants over it. “AI will write all the blogs!” they screech. “AI will take all the jobs!” Some of it’s pure bollocks. I’ve seen some of the AI-generated copy. It’s bland. It’s repetitive. It’s like eating unsalted toast, every single day. It might be efficient, sure, spitting out words faster than a caffeinated auctioneer, but where’s the grit? Where’s the wit? Where’s the feeling like you’re actually talking to someone who’s seen a thing or two?
I’ve got mates in newsrooms trying to figure out how to use it. Some agencies, the big ones, Edelman for PR, they’re probably already knee-deep in it, automating away. And good for them, I suppose, if it saves a few bob. But I tell ya, you can spot it a mile off. That cold, precise, utterly devoid-of-soul language. It’s like a really well-dressed mannequin trying to tell you a joke. No, it’s not going to replace the bloke who’s actually lived a bit, who’s made mistakes, who can tell you a story that makes you laugh or makes you think, not just regurgitate facts. It’s a tool, nothing more. A very smart tool, sure. But a tool.
Is Old Media Really Dead? Ask The New York Times.
People are always saying traditional media is dying. “Newspapers are dead,” they drone on. Well, tell that to The New York Times, or The Guardian. They’re still kicking, aren’t they? Still breaking stories. Still got subscribers. News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s lot, they’ve got The Wall Street Journal, still a powerhouse. Gannett, they’re still printing local papers all over the damn place. They had to adapt, mind. No one’s saying it was easy. They went digital, they figured out how to charge for it. They learned to shout louder in this “whatutalkingboutwillis blog” digital cacophony without losing their shirts.
But the core remains: credible reporting. That’s something the endless blogosphere struggles with. Anyone can say anything. And they do. You got conspiracy theories spreading faster than a cheap rumour in a village pub. This is where the old guard still has a place. Fact-checking. Verification. Proper journalism. It might not be as sexy as a dancing cat video, but it’s a whole lot more important. I get asked sometimes, “Is journalism really changing forever?” And my answer’s always the same: “It’s always changing, you daft sod. Just like everything else.”
The Shifting Sands Of Influence
Look at the influencers. The really big ones. The ones pulling down serious cash. They’re essentially media companies themselves, aren’t they? Little mini-BBCs, or mini-News Corps, just without the proper news desks. Some of them got agents, publicists, managers. It’s a whole cottage industry. Others, they start on platforms like Substack, writing their own newsletters, building their own audiences. They bypass the gatekeepers, and good on ’em for that. But what happens when they get too big? When they start believing their own hype? That’s when it usually goes south.
I’ve seen plenty of ’em come and go. One minute they’re the toast of the town, the next, they’re old news. The shelf life, it’s shorter than a British summer. That’s the problem with chasing trends. You’re always running. And what’s interesting is, even the big brands, they’re still scratching their heads on how to properly work with these ‘creators’. Is it a flash in the pan, or a lasting partnership? Nobody knows. It’s all a big gamble.
Making Sense Of The Madness
So, what’s the upshot of all this for your “whatutalkingboutwillis blog” ambitions? Don’t try to be everything to everyone. You’ll just end up being nothing to anyone. Focus. Find your niche. Say something original. You don’t need to be first with every breaking news story. Let the wire services do that. You don’t need to be the funniest person on the internet. Let the comedians handle that.
What about those folks wondering, “Can anyone really make a buck doing this ‘whatutalkingboutwillis blog’ stuff?” Some do, a few, mostly by selling courses on how to make a buck. Others, they build a proper following, and affiliate links or direct sales of their own products work out. But it ain’t a get-rich-quick scheme. No, never was. My experience? It takes patience. And a thick skin. Because for every one person who likes what you do, there’ll be five keyboard warriors telling you you’re an idiot. Just ignore ’em.
“Is old-school journalism dead then?” you might ask. And I’ll tell you, it’s not dead, it just smells a bit different. The principles are still there. The job of holding power to account, of digging for the truth, that ain’t going anywhere. It’s just the delivery mechanism that keeps changing. From stone tablets to printing presses to the blasted internet. What’s next? Telepathy? Wouldn’t surprise me.
“What about all this AI writing for blogs?” Some of it’s okay for basic stuff, for churning out product descriptions, maybe. But for anything with a bit of heart, a bit of character, a bit of genuine insight? Nah. Not yet. Maybe never. I reckon people want to hear from actual people. Call me old-fashioned.
“Where’s the good content gone?” It’s there. You just gotta dig for it. It’s not always shouted from the rooftops. It’s often buried under a mountain of clickbait and corporate puff pieces. You gotta develop an eye for it. My advice? Follow people who make you think, not just consume. The ones who challenge you, who make you see things differently. That’s the stuff that sticks. That’s the stuff that’s worth reading. The rest? Just background noise. Always was. Always will be.
