by Theresa Cobb

Created on: August 12, 2009

According to Mediating Conflict, a blog on www.blogspot.com, link journalism is a recent phenomenon that owes it's inception to the popularity of blogging on the world wide web. It is the practice of writing an article or blog with built in hyperlinks, that lead to a website, picture, map or source that defines, validates or confirms the author's work.

In the traditional journalistic format, the writer is ethically bound to list or notate sources used in their blog or story. Even anonymous sources and their relationship to the blog or article are, in spirit, acknowledged by the blogger who wishes to remain above reproach. The

Nieman Watchdog website reports, "as non-profit journalism grows in importance, donors and practitioners should adopt and enforce standards that give credit to sources instead of pilfering their ideas and riding roughshod over them". By hyperlinking to credible sources, websites, pictures and other blogs, the blogger enhances his or her own credibility, thus raising the credibility of the blog itself.

With more and more blogs showing up on the internet everyday, a perceived professional image is becoming a necessary marketing trait that blogs need to gain market share and exposure in the journalistic arena. While linking to websites offering items up for sale can make the blogger a few dollars, in the long run, credibility can lead to syndication on other websites or in print and eventually lead to a much bigger monetary payoff.

Today, most software programs used to create word files have tools to make inserting a hyperlink as easy as a simple mouse click. While acknowledging and giving credit, the creative writer may use the author's name or the name of the website, picture or article to create a hyperlink. Hyperlinks may also appear as completely spelled out URLs or they may be attached to highlighted key words. By connecting the web link to a famous name or popular website mentioned by the blogger, the blog is more likely to show up on the first page web searches. By connecting the web link to select words or group of words in the article or blog, the writer keeps the thought clean and clear without cluttering up the reader's mind with unintelligible information that is reflected in almost all URLs. Proper use of hyperlinks allows for "on demand" confirmation of information and at the same time credits sources used to create the current story or blog. As it is a direct reflection on the the journalist or blogger, it is his or her responsibility to confirm the validity of all web sources used.

Today's internet is barraged by websites that are overloaded with useless information. Music, videos, flashing advertisements, scrolling banners and slide shows are just a few of the distractions that can and do overwhelm a reader when a hyperlink opens. While the blogger may hyperlink to an outside website to affirm a thought or idea within the blog, the specific information needed may not be immediately available to the reader. The less time a reader takes to find the desired information the hyperlink has led to, the more likely the reader will be to return to the original blog and follow it to it's conclusion.

Finally, before publication, the blogger should always double check the integrity of the hyperlinks to make sure they are working correctly and that the linked website is correct and indeed working. Once published, the author should occasionally return to the blog and, again, double check the hyperlinks to make sure they are still relevant and are not broken.

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