‘PRs don’t always realise that online has a much longer life’ Sarah Ebner, author, journalist, blogger

Meet Sarah Ebner, an award-winning journalist (currently on The Times sports desk), author of The Starting School Survival Guide and of one of UK’s leading family travel blogs, Family Travel Times. In this interview Sarah spoke to us about how she juggles her time between being a journalist and blogger, how the roles differ and how it affects her relationship with PRs. 

How do you manage your time and balance the roles between being a reporter and a blogger? I work three days a week at The Times, and when I am there that is absolutely what I focus on. However, it means I have two days off and, within school hours at least, I spend most of those either freelancing or working on the blog. I really enjoy doing it because it’s a family affair and the children regularly write their own posts which makes it very special to us, and unusual too. However, it does seem to take up a lot of my time these days!

How do you work with PRs? How different are your relationships with PRs as a reporter and as a  blogger? I don’t see the two as particularly different and hope that I always deal with PRs in a professional way, whether it is for my office or non-office job. I find it interesting that PRs are still very often keen to get something “in print”, whether they are working me at The Times or for Family Travel Times. They don’t always realise that online has a much longer life and can be shared and re-shared. Digital pieces can also be longer of course and have great use of pictures and video.

Do you think PRs view blogs as influential as mainstream media? I think it depends on the topic and the blog of course. When it comes to big news stories, it always help if someone in the mainstream media picks it up and makes it front page news. When it comes to likes and dislikes and influencing in a more subtle way, I think that blogs and websites are becoming increasingly important. I also think that social media reach is becoming really important, so sometimes  your Twitter/Facebook and G+ followers can be as important as your unique visitors. Plus, many people come across reviews via social media and sometimes feel closer to “real people” than journalists. I, of course, am both, so I don’t know what that means for how they feel about me!

Editorial information on Sarah Ebner, Family Travel Times and thousands of other media/blogger contacts and outlets, can be found in the Cision Media Database.