Miss 604 and the business of blogging
Posted November 2, 2019 3:30 pm.
Last Updated November 2, 2019 3:31 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — This month, Rebecca Bollwitt, better known as Vancouver’s “Miss 604,” is celebrating the 15th anniversary of her eponymous blog that began like so many others did back in the early 2000’s.
“Well, when I first started, I wrote more about myself in kind of a diary blog, as blogs kind of were in the early days of the medium. And it evolved to be more [about] sharing my knowledge of Vancouver and sharing events, a lot of event listings, things happening around Vancouver and just talking about the city that I love versus just myself.”
Today, “Miss 604” is Bollwitt’s full-time job. And she’s also parlayed that expertise into a number of books.
“Yeah, I wrote Blogging to Drive Business in 2010 and, even since then, the landscape has changed so much. We had things like MySpace. Then in 2012, we did an update and added Instagram and Pinterest. It’s just a constant evolution and a change with blogging and social media. I think [the book] was one of the first guides to navigate businesses through that, not just personal bloggers.”
She’s also been recognized for her efforts.
“In 2016, I believe, I won an international media award from Variety, The Children’s Charity. That’s when we were working on a telethon and I decided to create a social lounge to kind of parlay what was happening on TV with what was happening online and getting the topic trending and getting the online donations trending and for that I was nominated and won this international award. So, it has do to with charity and helping kids in B.C. with special needs, so it really means a lot.”
So where does she see the medium going next?
“I was told maybe 10 years ago that blogging was dead and then people said podcasting was dead. These things just keep coming around because I still think people like telling stories and they look online for information and they look online for a voice as well. I thing blogging is just going to continue to evolve along with social media and the latest networks that pop up and come and go and I think it will be around for a while.”
Bollwitt is throwing a 15th anniversary party with proceeds going to Variety, The Children’s Charity. It’s set for November 14th at Timber on Robson, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
