Blog Spotlight: Charlie White of Gizmodo

Charlie White is the best example of the term blogebrity When I requested an interview with him, his response was generous, energetic and immediate. These are three words that describe the man in every way. I have found that most great professionals are like that and Charlie White is one of the best. An Emmy-award winning television professional, Charlie White is also a professional musician who holds a double major from the University of Miami in music and television. During our interview he revealed that a couple of years ago," I started reading Gizmodo (a gadget review blog) and really liked its style and content." He made a few inquiries and was first told that those who worked for Gizmodo had to live in New York. That obstacle didn't last long because as White states, "We live everywhere. So do our readers. We live in the blogosphere."
White was open and it was apparent he was ready to answer any and all questions.

ABS) What is your main passion in regards to blogs?

Charlie White) My passion is to get the story first and get it right, and to express unique opinions about it that are valid, thoughtful and provocative. My passions are similar to that of a newscast reporter, who wants to get there first, and get lots of high ratings because of that good hustle. I'm competitive, and I want to beat my competitors, for whom I have an enormous amount of respect. They're good, really good. I know if I want to beat them, I'm going to have to do something better than I think I'm even capable of doing. I feel like I'm only as good as my last post and I'm on a mission to constantly improve the quality, currency and entertainment value of my output.

ABS) What skills did you bring to Gizmodo and what skills do you think have evolved from your position there?

Charlie White) I brought 11 years worth of experience writing on the web to Gizmodo, and there aren't many people who can say they've done that. Heck, the Web in its present form as a journalistic medium has only been around for 12 or 13 years, tops. And I also brought my nutty point of view and my obtuse way of expressing myself. They seem to like that, so they haven't fired me yet. I learned how to write faster, make fewer mistakes, and be more coherent about complicated topics. I've also learned to take criticism from readers and improve myself because of it. I've also developed the skill of waking up at six o'clock in the morning - while it's still dark outside - and writing something coherent within the first half hour, before the sun comes up.

ABS) Do you have a certain working style? A day in the life pf Charlie White?
Charlie White) I get up at 6 a.m. Central Time, check the tips that come into our tipline and pick out the best ones and post them along with my opinions about them quickly. That's because we need to have stuff on our blog immediately each morning, because people expect to see something when they get up in the morning. Then I check over 150 websites with my RSS reader, finding the stories that might be important that day. Sometimes I'll test out a product or two and write about those, too. I end up writing 12 posts each day for Gizmodo, and then at about 11 a.m. Central Time, I begin working for Digital Media Online, a company based in Newport Beach, California, which consists of Digital Media Net and Consumers Electronics Net. At that point I'm working on Pacific Time and Digital Media Net is my 9-to-5 job. For that, I write 14 articles per month, consisting of features, reviews, tutorials and interviews. In order to gather the data for those articles, I test video editing products, broadcast equipment and consumer electronics products and sometimes I travel across the country gathering information for the sites. We have around 100 websites at Digital Media Online, so there's a lot of content required. I'm pretty much writing and gathering information all day long until 5pm Pacific Time. That's how I end up writing over 600,000 words a year. It's a grind, but I love it.

ABS) Where do you see the Blogosphere in the future?

Charlie White) I think the blogosphere is beginning to develop into a full-fledged journalistic medium, with certain star bloggers emerging and dominating the industry. I think blogging is turning the journalistic world upside down, and blogging's democratization and low barrier to entry is opening up venues for writers who never would have been published before.

ABS) What do you think is the central difference between print and electronic media?

Charlie White) Compared to websites, the print media is in slow motion. Many print journalists, magazine writers and so forth feel like they've done a lot of work if they write two feature articles in a month. That's a country club gig as far as I'm concerned. Not so with the Web world. The pace is accelerated drastically for websites, and even more for blogs. It's like the difference between a documentary and a live shot on television. One takes a lot of contemplation, thinking and planning, while the other is spur of the moment, off-the-cuff, exciting and quick.

In many ways Charlie White described himself with the last three words above. Spur of the moment, off-the-cuff, exciting and quick. But Charlie White is much more, really. He has had a world of lifetime experiences that brings knowledge and skill to his opinions. And even though his posts are quickly created, they are really the end result of a lifetime of energetic effort. Charlie White - on the A list-and going strong.