Why tech journalists love live blogging

As Apple began rolling out new products Thursday, tech journalists feverishly tweeted commentary and updates, but those tweets weren’t just going to their followers. Instead, journalists were posting updates to their live blogs.

Live blogging events began around 2010, and it has continued to grow in popularity as the primary form of breaking event news.

The reason why is fairly simple — instead of having readers follow along on a journalist’s Twitter page for live updates or making readers wait for a full story to be posted online, live blogging allows for both. With a live blog, news organizations can provide the personal connection Twitter gives journalists to their readers, while also maintaining complete coverage of an event for those readers not on Twitter.

TheStreet’s technology editor Chris Ciaccia said he enjoys live blogging for two primary reasons. First, live blogs allow him to get commentary and analysis out in real time without having to go through editors or updating a time stamp. And second, he believes live blogs are an easier format to read once the event has ended, particularly for readers who only want a snippet of the day’s news.

“It’s not necessarily a standard piece of journalism, where you go out and get sources and research,” Ciaccia, who ran TheStreet’s live blog of Apple’s event, said in a phone conversation. “It’s something that’s enjoyable and fun for me and the reader.”

Ciaccia said for a tech journalist, live blogging lends itself to covering earnings and events, such as a product release.

And for a day as large as Apple’s latest product launch, the live blogs kept rolling. Here are some highlights from Wednesday’s live blogs:

The team from The Verge filled their wait time before the program by cracking jokes:

Re/code’s live blog team discussed what Apple’s partnership with Hermes might mean for the Apple Watch’s audience reach:

The team from Business Insider included live images with their blog to give followers a firsthand perspective of the event:

The Street’s live blog combined anecdotes and news blasts, like this section about the iPhone’s new live photos feature:

CNBC’s live blog filled readers in on what Apple’s competition had to say about all the announcements:

But the day’s best moment had to be when The New York Times‘ tech team realized how out-of-touch they were with today’s hits: