January 1, 2006
Where to now, then?
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As one year closes and another beckons I find myself, like Allan Jenkins, reflecting on where this blogging/podcasting adventure is leading and what significance it has for us as business communicators.
Podcasting and blogging, as representatives of the new social media, are but two new channels in an already full dance card. As Sab pointed out, quoting Umair Hague and Herbert Simon,
“What does an abundance of information create?” A scarcity of attention basically, right?
Most of us have day jobs. Many of us have families. So we have a limited amount of attention left. And I suspect we are consuming most of it with what we’ve got on our plates today.
So where does the attention come for the next wave of blogs and web services? From the old ones, I guess. In my case, its not going to come out of my family’s attention allocation or my firm’s.
So attention is a zero sum game and if we are creating (at an exponential rate?) more uses of attention, then we are facing a looming attention crisis.
As a business communicator, consultant, husband, father, work colleague, church member, blogging and podcasting evangelist to other businesses, owner of two dogs and two cats, son, friend, neighbour, Masters-level student, et al, I have a full card of responsibilities and duties already. Adding to my dance card additional activities — such as blogging and podcasting — means that something has to be let go of, otherwise my health suffers. 2005 was a deeply challenging year for me and not one I am looking to repeat by stretching myself thin in 2006.
So do podcasting and blogging threaten to add or subtract from my experience of life?
Podcasting is nary a year old — has it already run out of its initial steam? Like the rush to blogging, so the rush to podcasting has seen rapid uptake followed by a significant percentage of drop outs, podcasters realising that a podcast of value takes time (a considerable amount of it) and dedication.
Which is why I am constantly amazed that Shel and Neville are able to create the time to put together their shows; not just the two 70+ minute reports per week, but also all of the interviews and book reports and additional material. That they ARE able to do this, and continue to do so, shows not just a commitment to the medium but a massive amount of grit in the face of adversity and a difficult choice consciously made when there are so many alternative ways of spending their time.
One can talk of branding, one can talk of community — whatever drives them on to meet their podcasting commitments, on top of their own blogging efforts, they show a level of commitment to this new medium that staggers and humbles me.
So then, let’s consider that other major element of this social medium — blogging.
Like its baby sister podcasting, blogging has yet to prove its standalone economic worth for all but a few companies, products or individuals. The ‘CEO Blog’ has not taken off, despite our evangelistic efforts, and companies aren’t smashing down the e-doors of Six Apart to get their own bit of turf on the new web. The growth in blog popularity has been fueled, I would argue, by individuals finding another channel for self-expression.
As if the world is in dire need of more diarists…
So then why blog? I see two purposes:
- one as a marketing channel for a product, service or ourselves (reflecting the Brand You
concept of Tom Peters et al);
- the other as a tool for community building.
Many of us in this community look at our PubSub rankings, our Feedburner stats, our StatCounter hits, and agonise that we are not getting the oxygen of audience that someone like, say, Rubel or Scoble or Seth Godin enjoys.
But perhaps that is to be looking in the wrong direction.
Of course there are always outliers, statistical anomalies that sit outside of the bell curve, but perhaps for the majority we are, I would argue, looking at blogging as a way of creating or joining a community of like-thinking souls. Yes, the business branding aspect doesn’t hurt, but no one has approached me and said it was my blog that encouraged them to get in touch (but they DO say that about my main website).
On the other hand, through the auspices of my blog I have been extremely blessed, as I mentioned a few days ago, to have found a community of like-minded individuals whose goals and career aspirations/calling are similar to mine.
I read recently of how gossip is modern man’s (and woman’s) way of keeping each other honest, a way of transmitting social norms and expectations of behaviour. In olden times, when communities weren’t as fragmented or dislocated (disenfranchised?) as they are now, local communities lived in each other’s pockets and kept each other honest. No one needed to lock their doors because no one stole from their neighbour. Each of these villages were around 150 people in size; larger than that and they started to fragment and form factions, perhaps splitting off into new mini-villages that again grew to around the 150 size.
Perhaps we could look at our little community, at our own blog visitor stats, as a village and not get so stressed when our village isn’t as big as Holtzville, Hobson Heights, Rubel Ranges, Scobletown, or Godin City.
A little while ago fellow compatriot Trevor Cook quite rightly asked if we are living in an echo chamber, and my view is still that we are a community of early adopters who are setting the rules of engagement for the lurkers in the wings, people like Donna Tocci who are now slowly, hesitantly putting their feet into the sandpit despite earlier attempts by the pathologically and egomaniacally unfriendly to eat her alive.
I have been extremely blessed to have been in several email chats with Donna T and her honesty, her self-effacing lack of guile and trust in those of us who have been around a bit longer is both heart-wrenching and heart-warming. She genuinely is grappling with the technology involved in this new social medium and instead of, quite understandably, being brassy and secretive about it all, she openly admits her ignorance, begs for our understanding and patience, and in the process says what many of our contemporaries are unwilling to say — that this new web scares them and they don’t want to appear foolish in front of millions.
So it is here, in this village atmosphere of our little part of the blogosphere, that we have a chance to show not only our own thought leadership, but also our humanity — by helping those who follow in our footsteps come to grips with this brave new web2.0 world (something I’ve said before).
So where does that lead podcasting and blogging for yours truly in 2006?
Well, to be honest, in the same place as I was at the end of 2005.
Podcasting takes an enormous amount of effort and commitment — and servicing clients with money must take precedence over personal marketing/branding activities. I still believe that having a main website full of articles and material that showcases the range of your abilities is a better use of your marketing time than just a blog on its own, but I appreciate that a full-feature website takes time and effort to get together. Nothing is an overnight success (indeed, many researchers into ’success’ report that a 10-year slog of hard work and practice and endless obstacles is necessary before ’success’ comes), so expecting a blog, podcast or any media channel to deliver ‘fame and fortune’ is likely to end in disappointment.
So in 2006 I will continue to podcast (albeit irregularly as my clients and their $$ must come first) and I will continue to blog.
I will obsess less about my stats, realising that my voice is one of a community, a village if you will, where it is more important to listen to others than it is to listen to my own voice, even if it is by the medium of my own voice that I work out what I think. There is no reason to think that the village need stop being the fantastic sounding board for ideas that it already is, but perhaps I need to be less egomaniacal and stop stressing over the fact that it is not always MY voice that everyone is listening to, or indeed SHOULD be listening to.
Yes, I will need to get over myself 
Less is more, content is king, and posting for the sake of being noticed will be replaced by actually having something of value to say. Which will mean readers of this blog will be subjected to lower quantity but hopefully higher quality.
In life, we consider ourselves fortunate if we have two or three really good friends. I am blessed by having two really good friends in the blogosphere, one an international man of mystery, the other a Canadian doyenne, who have enriched me immeasurably by their friendship, their willingness to share, and their honesty and integrity. There are another couple of village residents with whom I am moving to a similar level of friendship. I have a lot to be grateful for, despite the personal challenges of 2005, and it is this village aspect to the blogosphere that gives me such comfort, support and encouragement, both directly and indirectly. Without the geographically-dispersed village to which I belong my life would be immeasurably poorer.
Thank you for reading this. Happy New Year.
Stumble it!
Filed under: miscellaneous
2 Responses to “Where to now, then?”
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January 2nd, 2006 at 1:04 am
Marketing, Community Building and Other reasons
On the back of recent posts from John Wagner and Lee Hopkins I thought it would be prudent to again write a little about why I blog.
I look back to my previous posts Blogging Case Study & Unrealised Milestones for the answers I have given before.
…
January 2nd, 2006 at 6:59 am
Once again, you are too kind, Lee. Thank you for your constant patience as I muddle my way through my blogosphere adventure!
Your post touches on things I have often thought about, especially where does this blogging thing fit into life? It is truly a balancing act and some of us do it better than others. I think you are juggling a great many things and yet, to us in the blogosphere, you are doing it quite well. I can’t really speak for your cats, though, now can I?
Keep up the great work. I will take your lead and not stress over stats so much in ‘06. Sounds like good advice.
Happy, healthy new year to you and your family, Lee.