Blog Voice

From the National Association of Medical Communicators November 2008 newsletter, an excerpt...

Do Your Blogs Sound Like You? Owning Your Voice
Barbara Ficarra, RN,BSN,MPA, Healthin30.com

"We all have a distinctive style when we speak. The tone, the diction, the accent defines who we are.

Your distinctive voice should be heard when someone reads your blog. If your blogging reads like it belongs in a professional journal you’ll need to change your style. The hardest part of blogging is that your blog may be filled with incomplete sentences, and dare I say incorrect grammar.

This concept goes against everything we were taught in school. No one would ever think of handing in an essay, a paper, a thesis, a dissertation or any type of article with errors, but in the blogging world, it’s acceptable. So don’t be so hard on yourself. Write like you speak, own your voice, and own your blog."

(http://www.namc.info/shopcontent.asp?type=newsletternov08)

Barbara, a colleague of mine on the NAMC Board of Directors, raises a good point that extends to TV. I often make these points myself when I speak to doctors about media interviews.

• Be conversational. Use one and two syllable words. For example, don't say "efficacy" (no one but doctors talks like that), say "how well it works."

• Show emotion. Sometimes the "expert interview" is for information, but really, the audience at home already knows you're smart. The "Dr." or the "MD" with your name is plenty. Rather, the sound bite is more for emotion, to convey that you're human. So show that you're excited about that new finding, or don't be afraid to let your eyes well up when you talk about that special patient you took care of as he or she died.

These points apply to blogging, too.