One of the best blogs around is written by New Yorker reporter and author Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell posts around once a week about his books (Blink and The Tipping Point), his latest New Yorker article or some other topic that strikes his fancy (like the NBA or racism).
The blog is quite successful. It attracts intense discussion and is 1,526th most popular blog on the Internet according to Technorati.
The most interesting thing to me about Gladwell’s blog is the way he uses it to hold discussions about his New Yorker articles. As an example, here is a link to an article Gladwell wrote about the Enron case. He subsequently wrote two (1, 2) follow up blog posts. The blog posts attracted around 200 reader comments combined.
The whole thing is sort of terrific. Gladwell gets feedback on his articles (which every writer wants) and readers have a place to to share their thoughts on what they read.
It’s a great example of how reporters and magazines should be using their websites to complement the articles they publish.
Unfortunately, none of this discussion is happening on the New Yorker website, which doesn’t offer any way for readers to comment on or discuss articles. It’s too bad. More than any other magazine perhaps, the New Yorker could generate some great discussions.
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