There are too many blogs.
I say this with neither good nor bad overtones. If you are interested in macramé, LOST, Borat, Chinese gymnasts, or any one of the presidential candidates, there is a blog for you. Certainly this citizen journalism poses a threat to mainstream media, and that’s why CNN is now Twittering and featuring iReports from Joey and Jane Sixpack.
And it stands to reason why there is a proliferation of blogs – we Americans are obsessed with ourselves. How else can we explain the impulse to put our most private thoughts, videos, up on the Internet for millions to see? Twitter enables the truly self-obsessed to post about their lives – tweet – minute by minute.
Never mind if these tweets are actually factual. You can have a lot of fun at your friends’ expense by making up tweets: “Michael is now doing macramé with Borat, some Chinese acrobats and Sarah Palin in Honolulu.” 09:30 AM October 1, 2008 from web
That’s the fun of blogs. It’s mostly opinion and rarely fact (It’s what we want). What would happen if someone was writing fiction about you? Or writing fiction about your brand? Or, if not fiction, then something mean. Finding those tweets, videos, flickr images, and blog posts online, and sifting through them to find the really juicy ones, would be very time consuming.
I’ve recently started using Radian6, which provides me with an omniscient view on all of the chatter in the online world with a cool interface. I like Panera’s sandwiches and Chipotle’s burritos, so I decided to evaluate the level of online chatter about these brands. Panera had more than twice as many posts as Chipotle in the past 30 days, and I was able to see when there were spikes in posting activity that mentioned these brands (see the graphic below). I was able to drill down and read the posts that connect Panera with things that are part of the company’s DNA, like freshness. I was able to see what people who visit these chains actually think about the company.
While reading all of this content, I felt like I was listening to trees falling in the woods. These desperate souls, all intent on sharing their every thought with friends and random strangers, were being seen by me. If I felt like it, I could have made comments on their posts and tell them that I too like the Frontega Chicken hot panini. Like some sort of deity, I could answer their prayers to be heard, or I could just listen in and move on. If I worked for Panera, I could have given those who wrote favorable reviews a coupon to buy more sandwiches. Now, that would certainly be playing God.
I’d like to know if you think that there’s a value in hearing what the great unwashed masses think, or if the taste-makers in the mainstream media are the only ones that matter. And, given that a blog post’s value is mostly measurable by how frequently people comment on any given post, should we care about a blog post on which no one comments? And, if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?
Indeed, it does make a sound. Yes, I'm one of those rare folks who's actually been in the woods to see and hear a tree fall on it's own. I did scare the stuffing out of me because it was so surprising - and it was loud.
ReplyDeleteAnd so it goes with a single blog post. Yes, maybe no one will find it right away, to hear it fall. But perhaps someone will stumble upon it and the contents will resonate with them. And maybe the person reading it will have a larger audience and will decide to blog on the same idea and point to the post they found. And others will see the new post and the original one and will relate to the content and leave comments or post and crosslink themselves. And so on, and so on. And it may happen fast or it may build. The amazing thing, like the tree falling, is that it may be a bit random and hard to predict, but the sound could be heard.
I've seen with my very own eyes how a single tweet can explode and carry across the web and still resonate even today. And I'm sure that right now 10's if not 100's of ideas are being expressed, repeated, converted, underlined etc..., ideas that are helping or hurting causes, companies or colleagues.
As you can see I loved your analogy, and the story you started with your post. It resonated with me and I added to it. Who knows where it might lead.....
"There are too many blogs."
ReplyDeleteAh, but each blog is important to *someone*. Even if not you. Even if there are no comments. It's someone's personal space on the web. They may not even be doing it for anyone other than themselves.
Your post was "a tree falling in the woods" to me until David tweeted it. And, now it's live, I read it and enjoyed it. But I might have discovered it in a year from Googling a random phrase. Sure, I didn't read it when you posted it, but at some point it might matter.
Cheers,
Adam
Raoul - I agree with you on judging the value of a site by the number of comments. I focus more on number of subscribers, number of site visits and the QUALITY of the comments being shared, as you mention. I'll take quality over quantity at any time.
ReplyDeleteGrowing your subscriber base is a good indication that people find good value in what you're sharing. Same with number of site visits. Those are the two stats I focus on first for both my personal blog and for our Mullen team blog - relentlessPR. Then quality of comments. Then quantity of comments.
Great post Michael. There ARE lots of blogs out there, but there are also lots of books, magazine articles, etc. - more than we could hope to read in several lifetimes. Which of them are credible? Interestingly enough, most bloggers will tell you that it's more about who reads and comments than how many. Every blog makes a sound, it's all about who chooses to listen.
ReplyDelete