Blog Clutter? What Was it Called Before Blogs?

By on September 7, 2006 in Blogging with 4 Comments

Is the blogosphere just one big echo chamber? Yes? No? Maybe? So What If It Is?

As individuals, our opinions and ideas are more findable than ever. And, while we find commonality – by our nature, we’re probably attracted to this commonality – we often find subject matter echoing across several blogs we read.

Larry Hendricks and I have been discussing this in email and in comments from the SMO post a few days ago. Rather than keep that conversation below the fold, I thought I’d bring it up to post level.

So let’s think about the possible answers to "Is the blogosphere one big echo chamber?":

YES: Think about it, how many Snakes on a Plane posts have we seen? The challenge for me as a reader was that I stopped reading anything with SoaP in a headline. In some cases, yes – the "blogosphere" is an echo chamber. Is that a bad thing?

NO: I believe that a majority of content published in blogs is quite original, and if it takes a previously shared thought and expands upon it, it’s of value. And even if it doesn’t add anything new, does it still have value?

MAYBE: Lots of people publish "daily links" and I would love to start up Whistle Stops again soon. But herein lies the value of these posts: By doing this, the author can become a trusted resource and the author becomes a source of information and reliability. But isn’t this constant regurgitation of links just noise across the Internet?

SO WHAT IF IT IS?: Before blogging, we shared our opinions offline just as we do now online. These days, we have a larger potential audience. Our audience may not be reading everything we’re reading – though because of commonality there will be crossover. Should that slow us down – or even stifle us from sharing our thoughts?

My take? I can only think of one immutable law in business blogging. Each author chooses what to write, each reader chooses what to read. Know your target audience (and be open to the possibility that your target evolves and changes as time goes by).

What’s your take?

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  • http://www.delaneykirk.com Delaney J. Kirk

    I agree with your “maybe.” The authors of the blogs I read have done the research and provide the links to articles and blogposts that I would be interested in reading. Sort of like Borders and B&N do when they have their employees post suggested books to read. Saves me time. Hopefully that’s what I’m doing for the profs who read my blog. Thanks for your insightful blogs/links to others!

  • J.D.

    I don’t know if it’s being one way or the other that makes a blog a “good” blog. I know plenty of blogs that cover subjects that are widely discussed that are quite good (and others that are quite bad) and I know some blogs that strike out on their own.
    One thing that I’ve learned in a year of blogging is that more often than not, your blog decides where it wants to go. You’re just the guy riding atop it and feeding it oats, grooming it where needed, and caring for it. Once you realize that, you accept that it’s not always about you, and you learn to feel what you need to do next.
    The BEST blogs have a combination of both aspects, though, I think.
    For better or for worse, mine ended up being about young upstart musicians and helping them get known. American Idol plays heavily into this as well. Given my usual subject matter, it would be quite easy for me to just hash over things I’ve read elsewhere, just like the millions of other sites. I could do that, and people would check it out maybe. But what I decided to do was to do a *little* bit of that (if for no other reason than credibility) and then to strike out on my own, pursue my own stories, get what others weren’t getting. THAT, my friends, is what makes people stop at your blog and go “hey…this is something I need to check more often.” You become the one that everybody else re-hashes and links to in their blogs.
    Find the balance…that’s what’s workin’ for me!

  • Larry Hendrick

    In continuing the conversation Mike, another aspect that hasn’t been discussed is “time” and how much it takes to write original, as opposed to quickly linking to what others are doing. Then there is the quality of the writing. Active rather than passive, moving rather than slow, interesting rather than dull, fast rather than slow, etc.
    I thinks it easier to just be “the echo chamber,” but the real conversations take place around good content that brings out the desire and passion in the readers. Just as your original post did and it was, indeed, linked content, but with your thoughts and additions as value add.
    What’s the real answer to the blog clutter question? I think each person will have to answer it themselves as they decide what to read and what to skip as the product matures.
    This I do know. The sites that ‘grab’ the audience and entertain, inform, or educate, will find their way to the top.

  • http://www.converstations.com Mike Sansone

    Good stuff! To each author and audience, the choice is theirs – and the evolution of each paves a path (which is yet another choice).
    If we believe we’re in ‘beta’ – let the tests and conversations continue.

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