Comments on: Ok, You Can Admit It. You Are One Of Them…

By: Fee Sepahi

Fee Sepahi — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:08:02 +0000

I am one!!!! Not only am I addicted to the M/A/R/C blog, but through time I’ve learned that my family loves to communicate and I’m in the process of launching my first blog, given the global nature of our family and they are all thrilled, including my 90+ mother living about 8k miles away! She’ll get to see photos, news, video and write anything she wants in the blog page!
It’s instantaneous, it brings together ALL the generations and it broadcasts news in mass! What more could one ask for…!

By: Steve Gentile

Steve Gentile — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:02:53 +0000

In the story-teller tradition, the village took great pride in and placed high value upon the member of their community who would be the “gatekeeper” of information. I often think of known greats in the past – Gandhi, Jesus, Caesar, Mercury, Joshua, Alexander the Great, Columbus, Galileo – the list is endless. Imagine them as Bloggers and the wealth of legacy knowledge that would trail behind them as their words and thoughts were not only recorded, but commented upon.
My family has many who love story-telling – it’s what I grew up around and perhaps the reason I went into fillmmaking and then qualitative research. This enriching tapestry, of not only the blogger but the community experience around him/her infuse the “village” with knowledge, humor, humility, grace, acceptance – a shared emotion and a chance to speak and be heard in mountaintops and valleys.
Through blogs, my community becomes bigger and also more intimate simultaneously – thank you for this gift.

By: Merrill Dubrow

Merrill Dubrow — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:17:45 +0000

Sean,

Appreciate your comments. I will check out your blog.

Thanks.

Merrill

By: SeanJJordan

SeanJJordan — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:24:39 +0000

Hi Merrill,

I have a blog (http://www.seanjjordan.com) where I talk about small publishing and comic book publishing. I also used blogging software (WordPress) to set up a blog-style page for my upcoming children’s graphic novel, Code of the Wild (http://www.codeofthewild.com). Both blogs are set up because they allow me to get information out to people easily and because they’re easy to maintain.

Now, with that said… I think far too many corporate entities use blogs with the expectation that they’re going to generate significant returns. The truth of the matter is that it’s not “blogs” as a general rule that are being read — it’s websites that behave like blogs. For example, Gawker Media’s blog-style sites are very popular, but they’re not really blogs in the sense of a single guy writing about his or her area of interest — they’re essentially news sites that have paid writers and editors. The ultra-popular site Boing Boing brings in professional writers and even actors to contribute. And news-style blogs like Daily Kos or the Huffington Post are maintained by communities of contributors, not single voices.

The reason I bring this up is because there’s a perception in the more traditional media that bloggers are just people who sit around and post articles all day. Certainly those people do exist. But the most popular blogs are more like news aggregators than anything — they just use blogging software for layout and maintenance.

One of the most misguided things I’ve seen in the marketing profession is the tendency to set up blogs and then expect them to catch on in some big way. For example, Saint Louis University has been advertising its student blogs about SLU, as if anyone would want to read them. Most internet users aren’t that interested in content that’s been obviously run through a PR filter, and those who are will find it through search engines, not advertising.

That’s not to say I don’t like blogs. I think they’re great ways for people to share ideas, and I love the close-knit user communities that tend to form around them! I just worry that people in the business world get excited about “these new blog things” and start them without understanding their purpose or their usefulness.

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:40:44 +0000

My company recently started a blog, and I subsequently started my own personal blog. Personally, I think it is an invaluable tool for learning, and a reason to reflect on things and share thoughts which otherwise would have never been voiced. I have learned a lot about other people through blogging and other services, like Twitter.

Obviously blog interaction has grown and will continue to grow. People use them a lot for making important decisions. Me, personally, I use them to learn about the important people in my field and what they do, what they think, how they’ve become successful, etc.