美國最新職業 博客作者

Paid Bloggers fit just about every definition of a microtrend: Their ranks have grown dramatically over the years, blogging is an important social and cultural movement that people care passionately about, and the number of people doing it for at least some income is approaching 1% of American adults.
收費博客作者幾乎符合“微趨勢”的所有定義：過去幾年中，他們的人數迅猛增長；寫博客已經成了一種重大的社會文化運動，人們對之熱情高漲；而靠寫博客賺錢的人佔美國成年人口的比例已接近1%。

The best studies we can find say we are a nation of over 20 million bloggers, with 1.7 million profiting from the work, and 452,000 of those using blogging as their primary source of income. That's almost 2 million Americans getting paid by the word, the post, or the click -- whether on their site or someone else's. And that's nearly half a million of whom it can be said, as Bob Dylan did of Hurricane Carter: 'It's my work he'd say, I do it for pay.'
我們所能找到的最好的研究顯示，美國博客作者總人數超過2,000萬，其中170萬人從中營利，而45.2萬人以博客寫作爲主要收入來源。將近200萬人通過設置關鍵詞、發貼或是點擊量得到報酬－－無論是他們自己網站的點擊量還是去點擊別人的網站。也就是說，像鮑勃•迪倫(Bob Dylan)在歌曲《卡特颶風》(Hurricane Carter)裏唱的那樣，將近50萬人都可以說，這是我的工作，我幹這個就是爲了掙錢。

This could make us the most noisily opinionated nation on earth. The Information Age has spawned many new professions, but blogging could well be the one with the most profound effect on our culture. If journalists were the Fourth Estate, bloggers are becoming the Fifth Estate.
這種情況可能讓我們成了全世界最吵鬧、最固執己見的國家。信息時代催生了許多新職業，但博客寫作很可能會是對我們的文化影響最深遠的。如果說新聞記者是第四等級（新聞界的別稱），那博客作者正成爲第五等級。

What started as a discussion forum for progressive politics and new technologies has now been applied to motherhood, health care, the arts, fashion, dentistry -- and just about every other imaginable area of life. What started as a hobby and an outlet for volunteers is becoming big business for newly emerging sites, for companies that now depend upon their reviews and for the people who work in this new industry.
博客最開始只是一個討論革新政見和新技術的論壇，現在內容已經廣泛涉及育兒、醫療衛生、藝術、時尚、牙科……幾乎囊括你能想到的所有生活領域。寫博客最初只是一項自願自發的業餘愛好和宣泄渠道，現在卻成了一個重大的商機，對於新興網站、依賴博客作者觀點的公司以及從事這個新興行業的人而言莫不如此。

Demographically, bloggers are extremely well educated: three out of every four are college graduates. Most are white males reporting above-average incomes. One out of three young people reports blogging, but bloggers who do it for a living successfully are 2% of bloggers overall. It takes about 100,000 unique visitors a month to generate an income of $75,000 a year. Bloggers can get $75 to $200 for a good post, and some even serve as 'spokesbloggers' -- paid by advertisers to blog about products. As a job with zero commuting, blogging could be one of the most environmentally friendly jobs around -- but it can also be quite profitable. For sites at the top, the returns can be substantial. At some point the value of the Huffington Post will no doubt pass the value of the Washington Post.
從人口統計學的角度看，博客作者的受教育程度極高：四分之三的人爲大學畢業。絕大多數爲白人男性，收入高於平均水平。三分之一的年輕人說自己寫博客，但成功地以此謀生的博客作者僅佔2%。每月唯一訪問者達到10萬左右才能實現年收入7.5萬美元。一篇好的博客文章報酬可能在75美元至200美元之間，有的博客作者還充當“代言博客”－－廣告商付費讓他們爲產品撰寫博客文章。由於這樣的工作完全不需要上下班通勤，因此寫博客沒準是世上最環保的工作了－－同時也可能帶來豐厚的收入。頂級博客站點的收益相當高。在某種程度上，博客網站Huffington Post 的價值無疑超過《華盛頓郵報》(Washington Post)。

The barriers to entry couldn't be lower. Most bloggers for hire pay $80 to get started, do it for about 35 months, and make a few hundred dollars. But a subgroup of these bloggers are the true professionals who work at corporations, serve as highly paid blogging consultants or write for sites with substantial traffic.
這份工作的門檻極低。大多數靠博客掙錢的寫手付費80美元開個博客，從事博客寫作的時間大約在35個月左右，可賺回幾百美元。但有一小羣博客作者是真正專門從事博客寫作的，他們在公司供職，擔任薪資豐厚的博客顧問，或是爲訪問量很大的網站寫東西。

Pros who work for companies are typically paid $45,000 to $90,000 a year for their blogging. One percent make over $200,000. And they report long hours -- 50 to 60 hours a week.
在公司任職的專職博客作者通常年收入4.5萬-9萬美元。有1%的人年收入在20萬美元以上。這些人的寫作時間也很長，達到每週50-60小時。

As bloggers have increased in numbers, the number of journalists has significantly declined. In Washington alone, there are now 79% fewer DC-based employees of major newspapers than there were just few years ago. At the same time, Washington is easily the most blogged-about city in America, if not the world.
寫博客的人越來越多，而同時新聞記者的人數卻顯著下滑。僅華盛頓一地，大報社駐華盛頓的僱員人數現在就比幾年前減少了79%。與此同時，華盛頓也輕鬆地成爲了美國最受博客作者關注的城市，如果說不上世界範圍的話。

Almost no blogging is by subscription; rather, it owes it economic model to on-line advertising. Bloggers make money if their consumers click the ads on their sites. Some sites even pay writers by the click, which is of course a system that promotes sensationalism, or doing whatever it takes to get noticed.
幾乎沒有博客是通過訂閱營利的；其經濟發展模式是依靠在線廣告。如果讀者點擊網站上的廣告，博客作者就能掙錢。一些網站甚至還以點擊量作爲向作者付費的標準，這樣一個體系當然會促使人們追求轟動效應，或是盡一切努力引起讀者關注。

It is hard to think of another job category that has grown so quickly and become such a force in society without having any tests, degrees, or regulation of virtually any kind. Courses on blogging are now cropping up, and we can't be far away from the Columbia School of Bloggerism. There is a lot of interest now in Twittering and Facebooking -- but those venues don't offer the career opportunities of blogging. Not since eBay opened its doors have so many been able to sit at their computer screens and make some money, or even make a whole living.
很難想到還有什麼工作會如此迅速地發展，並在沒有任何考試、學位，或是任何監管的前提下成爲一支重大的社會力量。現在出現了一大堆有關博客寫作的課程，也許要不了多久就會有哥倫比亞博客學院(Columbia School of Bloggerism)了。現在很多人都對使用Twitter和Facebook上網寫東西以及交友很感興趣，但這些平臺無法提供博客寫作這樣的職業機會。自從eBay創立以來，還從沒有這麼多人都可以坐在電腦屏幕前賺錢，甚至是以此謀生。

And with millions of human-hours now going into writing and recording opinion, we have to wonder whether being the blogging capital of the world will help America compete in the global economy. Maybe all this self-criticism will propel us forward by putting us on the right track and helping us choose the right products. Maybe it will create a resurgence in the art of writing and writing courses. Or serve as a safety net for out of work professionals in the crisis. But for how long can nearly 500,000 people who are gradually replacing whole swaths of journalists survive with no worker protections, no enforced ethics codes, limited standards, and, for most , no formal training? Even the 'Wild West' eventually became just the 'West.'
現在，有數百萬人工投入在了寫作和記錄觀點上，在這樣的情況下，我們得考慮成爲世界博客之都是否有助於美國在全球經濟中的競爭。或許所有這些自我批評會讓我們走上正確的道路，幫助我們選擇正確的產品，從而推動我們前進。或許它會帶來寫作藝術和寫作課程的復興。抑或爲危機中失業的專業人士充當安全網。但正在逐漸取代整個新聞記者隊伍的近50萬博客作者，他們沒有勞動者保護，沒有強制的道德規範，水平也有限，而且絕大多數都沒有接受過正式的訓練，這些人能撐多久？要知道，就連所謂的“狂野西部”最終也會褪色成“西部”而已。