I posted some personal ”lessons learned” earlier in the contest (April 15th to be exact). I figured I might try to see if there isanything new that I’ve learned since then….while I still can post aspart of the contest.
1. I don’t really like communicating if there’s no one listening. On Blogging Idol the winner is the one who is most popular so somepeople seem to be fixated on getting views. It is interesting gettingimmediate feedback as to how many people have read the post. I seem toaverage about 200 views, except for my post about network patterns. Obviously my interview fromlast year wasn’t very newsworthy!!! It would be nice if the audiencewas growing a little bit!! I think you could get discouraged after awhile unless posting was part of your job.
2. There seems to be a formula approach emerging in the contest. You pick a controversial topic by using Googleto find something that is being searched a lot. You use a picture withlots of colours (obligatory) you write a few statements that people mayor may not agree with, then you publish it and wait for the rush.
Here’s a nice picture, although hardly relevant. Obama is always popular
Sorry……not good at pasting pictures yet. I’ve kind of decided Idon’t like spending the time to make things pretty…….so perhaps I’m notgoing to get to be a “professional blogoholic” anytime soon.
3. Last year I thought that Blogging Idol was a great model for a“communal blog” – a blog that had several posters so that no one personwould feel pressure to post all the time. Community could happenwithout too big a commitment of time. This year it seems different -there’s not much chance to develop themes (i.e., last year we werefocussed on the topics, this year on news). I like the themes better.
4. It seem there’s two types of blogging – one type that is tryingto be commercial to attract advertisers, and another type that is morefocussed on “brainstorming” and “intellectual repartee”. I can easilyguess which one makes more sense for organizations like Network WorldCanada!!! And that is all part of the changing business model forpublishing.
5. Another lesson for me is that it takes time and thought to creatposts. I’m certainly not trying to focus on commenting on “news bites”such as the latest twitter scandal, the current status of Microsoft, oreven the state of the world in general. Its been said that doinga Google search of your topic first is a good I idea, and I agree, butwho researches a conversation? If I were writing a white paper, ok,but frankly I’m not likely to spend an hour reading in order to write300 words that will be read and discarded. Maybe if I wanted to dothat I would have gotten a job at a newspaper.
Anyway, enough said for Lessons Learned Blogging Idol – installment2. As always, your inout is valuable. What drives you to be a bloggerand/or blog reader?
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