What the heck to write about? Nothing?
July 9th, 2008 |
Last night I screwed around online for two hours wondering what to write about in my next blog post. Have you ever seen a PowerPoint presentation (like this one) with that hack quote “everything that can be invented has been invented”?* It seems the same is true about blogging. Everything that can be written about in a blog has been written about. Check the comments on any blog or Twitter and you’ll see many repetitions on the theme “there’s nothing new here.”
Now comes “news” from Valleywag that most of us shouldn’t bother writing blogs. Valleywag’s piece assumes that blogs are solely intended to be profitable media entities, an imperative that has ruined thousands of blogs and contributed to both a confrontational style of writing, and an agenda biased toward site traffic and advertising dollars. But I understand the world has changed, and for many, pro bono blogging is no longer relevant.
The piece also argues that changes in social media habits have made blogs less effective at driving traffic than search engines, aggregators and microblogging environments, observing, based on analysis by James Joyner, “the geeks who read blogs all day in 2003 are now following Twitter and other speedier media.”
I agree with this, but note the all-important inclusion of the word “geek.” These observations apply to the geeks, the early adopters, the bubble insiders. That’s the essence of the flaw in the notion that blogs need only cover something “new.” Twitter, for example, is one of the hottest topics in social media right now. How many thousands of educational posts are there on how to use Twitter? Twitter has an estimated 1.6 million users. Nielsen estimates (PDF) there are over 200 million Americans with Internet access. Facebook has over 80 million users. So if Twitter is to become mainstream, statistically speaking, the majority of its eventual user base are not yet online do not know how to use it, and haven’t read a word about it.
Should we ignore them because the topic is no longer fresh to 5000 social media experts? I think there is room for tens of thousands of blogs on similar topics. Why are people calling for a thinning of the herd when social media was supposed to be about letting everyone in the heard have a say?
* Turns out like most really clever quotes, this one is apocryphal. It’s a misinterpretation of a statement made by Patent Office Commissioner Henry Ellsworth in an 1843 report to Congress, in which he states, “The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end.”
| Sphere This |
We’re not ignoring the mainstream users are we? I think it might be more productive to ask , “Why aren’t they engaged in our conversations yet?”. Right now its just us social media geeks blogging for social media geeks.
Comment by Bukola Ekundayo — July 9, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
Can’t stop blogging! Remember, Seinfeld was a show about “nothing” also and everyone knows the end to that story
@buoka - I’m a student, therefore a wannabe sm geek lol
Comment by Helene — July 9, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
Joel, you make good points but I think there’s a niche for every blog, we just have to find it. On those days when I am despairing about what to write and how to make my blog unique and original, yet still stay within my chosen sweet spot of PR and social media, without fail a coworker or client or friend will say to me “Hey, I really like your blog, thanks for writing it!” and it seems to give me my steam back.
Plus, then I inadvertently stumble across a great topic to write about, like zombies stealing my face and taking it viral via Digg. You can’t make this stuff up… but you can blog about it!
Comment by Lara Kretler — July 9, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
“Should we ignore them because the topic is no longer fresh to 5000 social media experts? I think there is room for tens of thousands of blogs on similar topics.”
As someone relatively new in the blog world and just figuring out the potential uses for them, I agree with your thought on that. Many readers (and I fall prey to this often too) assume that the writer is an expert on the subject. While this may or may not be true, the articles are often flavored by each bloggers personal experience or angle, giving sometimes very different views on the same subject. In the microblogging world, like Twitter, I watch this often (though admittedly sometimes I only see one side of the debate, depending on who I follow). I enjoy that. I enjoy reading the varying styles and views of each blogger and seeing where they align with what I am learning and how it can apply to me and what I need to accomplish. It opens my mind to see angles I hadn’t thought of. But the point is, all of this leads to more and more views being cultivated and written about as this form of communication evolves and more people are exposed to it.
I think there is plenty of room for multiple blogs on similar topics.
Comment by Robyn — July 9, 2008 @ 11:33 pm
As someone leading the internal adoption of social media tools, and blogs for employees and leaders in particular, I see heaps of growth and opportunity and find that the so-called “rules of good blogging” that have emerged in the public domain, whilst having some value, can equally scare of newcomers and those who first put finger to keyboard to discover the joy of having a voice. I compare that to what happens to children as soon as their art gets critiqued and they are told what a drawing ought to look like….it often robs the joy and kills the creative spirit! Our internal bloggers are all newbies and I love their stuff because its raw and original and authentic and uncontrived.
My first blog was a purely personal creative self-expression….not designed to drive traffic or build a “profile” or say something meaningful to the world….but I spent hours doing it and loved every minute of it. Then as the “science” of blogging coalesced, I became conscious that my blog was sadly not living up to the “rules” and thought as a role model for corporate bloggers, I should wise up and get more professional at this by starting a blog as a Corporate Innovation specialist- my professional role.
And then…exactly what you describe above happened to me…I could not think of much original to say that was not some form of regurgitation of what others have already said, or connecting a few existing dots, which admittedly is a form of value-add.
I saw little point in adding to the noise for the sake of it or building my own online profile. I’d rather spend my little available free time reading a book or other people’s good blogs or bonding with my kids!
So…my new “professional” blog has struggled for my time and commitment because it became a chore whereas the personal blog never did…that was a delicious seduction!
I wonder if other people experience this too?
Comment by Annalie Killian — July 19, 2008 @ 8:28 am