Perhaps because I'm in a transition mode or perhaps because I'm suffering from a dearth of new ideas (an unusual thing for me), a post that Mark Evans wrote a few days back has stuck with me. In commenting upon criticism of Gabe Rivera's Techmeme as a template for me-too bloggers, Mark articulated just why the blogosphere is increasingly a chorus of sameness.
Original thought-provoking blog posts take "time, though and effort," Mark wrote. Many bloggers, even the A-list ones who have staff and VC money, want to be part of the conversation before it moves on. The upshot: they "pound out a quick, no-frills post that makes you feel good about being on top of the hot story even if it’s piling on."
Original thought, moreover, typically doesn't pay anything more than the me-too kind. In fact, my experience has taught me that simply regurgitating the news-of-the-moment generates far more traffic than crafting an original piece that isn't the topic du jour. Aggregators and syndicators such as Techmeme and BlogBurst drive a lot of traffic to sites, buy only if the posts deal with a hot topic.
Today Paul Chaney returns to this notion of blogging-for-the-sake-of-blogging and talks about how he was panicked that he hadn't blogged for a day or two. But with nothing to add the conversation, he didn't want to simply "riff on the latest news."
I've felt like that lately. I've written far too many mundane posts that simply echo what everybody else is saying and I feel bad about it. Worse, I typically wade through a compost heap of crappy blog posts to do it.
Blogging used to be fun but lately it feels like a chore precisely because of the pressure to stay relevant, generate traffic and keep pace with the chorus of commenters, most of whom are really not that knowledgedable or interesting. I would even argue that blogging, or at least the kind of blogging done by folks who show up on Techmeme, kills creativity because of the conformity. And as both Mark and Paul note, if you're not among the handful of bloggers who do nothing but blog full-time, blogging is a sideline that doesn't even generate revenue and, in my case, actively detracts from the time I spend on revenue-generating efforts.
Bottom-line: a lot of blogging is unpaid work that dulls inspiration. What's the solution? Copyblogger's Brian Clark argues for "value blogging," sticking to stuff that actually educates, elucidates or simply interesting to read.
This brings us full circle back to the idea of original thought. "Value blogging" is simply original content, although it should be further refined to mean interesting original content...which takes time and doesn't pay anything more than me-too kind, etc., etc.
So, I don't know what the solution is. For me personally I think it means holding off on blog posts until I have something to say to somebody that nobody else is saying. Even if that means a small audience, no links and less frequent posting.
It might also mean aligning my blog more toward my business interests -- i.e. dovetailing it more closely with what I know customers and clients want to read (none of this big picture philosophy stuff). I'm not sure.
I am more sure, however, that the blogosphere and original thought are increasingly distant cousins.
Cynthia Brumfield at 4:57 PM|Comments(4)
There's another force at work that I often see, which is blog readers who assume that every blogger must comment on the latest issue, because even their silence indicates their opinion. "You didn't write about Topic X, so we know where you stand." I've seen bloggers have to explain why they've chosen not to write about a subject.
Logic dictates that print columnists may have been getting letters for years complaining about stories not written. But the expanse of the blogosphere provides an ever better case for not jumping on every story, unless you've got something to contribute.
We'd all benefit from more bloggers who blogged less, but provided more original writing that took time to research and covered neglected topics.
Posted by: PJ Rodriguez at April 16, 2008 3:30 AM
Dave, there is no question that Techmeme is great. I check it often (maybe a little too obsessively). But it does seem to foster piling-on, which makes it hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Paul, a "no-copycat-blogging" manifesto would be great...if only bloggers would follow it. A nice dream but just as pack journalism evolved in the traditional media world, I think me-too blogging is here to stay.
Posted by: Cynthia Brumfield at April 7, 2008 10:45 AM
I think you've boiled this issue down to its essence. Let's get rid of me-too sameness and opt instead for original though in the value blogging mode.
I suggest it's time for a manifesto...out with copycat blogging and in with original thought. It would likely mean a lot less content being cranked out every day, but that which is published would hopefully have a heightened degree of quality.
Posted by: Paul Chaney at April 7, 2008 10:36 AM
As you say, most of us are unpaid or pulling in pennies per minute... So, we should probably write about whatever inspires us (or pisses us off). "News" often falls into that category.
As a blog reader, I look to a variety of bloggers for their opinion on whatever the current topic is. I appreciate Techmeme because it allows me to discover the hot tech topics - when an Engadget or Gizmodo makes 40 posts a day, TechMeme highlights the hot topics. It's actually a noise reducer, signal amplifier in my opinion.
Posted by: Dave Zatz at April 6, 2008 12:37 PM
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