9 Random thoughts about Blogging
These are just a few random thoughts that popped into my mond on a flight home tonight. Each has something to do with posts I've read recently from people who apparently see the blogosphere differently than I do:
1. Law of Diminishing Share.
No blogger can grow at the speed that the blogosphere is expanding. The world’s most popular blogger reaches a smaller percentage of the total blogosphere every day.
2. The buck’s not there.
There are few bloggers making a living, or even rent money, by blogging. Many more improve their livings because of blogging. The same, of course, can be said of people using telephones.
3. Size isn’t relevance. A blog may give you a huge audience but a smaller audience may be more relevant to you and your business. For example,you could have a political blog with only three readers. If they happen to be the heads of the US, China and Russia, you could have great influence on the world. Yet Technorati would rate you as chopped liver.
4. Give to Get.
Blogging is very much like a savings account. The more you contribute, the more you get in return. Like a savings account, it takes a while before you can see measurable returns.
5. It’s the conversation.
The blog is just the latest tool. You can have more conversations with more people in more places with blogs. None of them beat a face to face encounter.
6. Blogging is multi-sensory.
Touch and voice are useful, but eyes and ears are equally valuable.
7. Blogging is like an elephant.
Depending on how and where you touch it you get a different impression of what it's like.
8. ROI is priceless.
Few blogs can be measured by financial returns. The ROI can be measured the same way that you measure the ROI if a press release or the value of earning a reputation for great customer support.
9. Any blogger can be heard.
It happens all the time. Some unknown blogger posts about a spouse being abused in the workplace, or a hole popping out of a plane or a bomb in a London tube and the voice is heard worldwide very quickly. This does not mean every blogger who posts a picture about their cat will be heard. Nor does it mean they should be.
Ach, I thought my post about toast was going be the one to break me into the major leagues.
Posted by: Conor O'Neill | August 29, 2006 at 12:29 AM
Nice list!
Posted by: David | August 29, 2006 at 05:18 AM
You captured it all - at least in terms of where blogging is right now. The money that comes, as you note, comes indirectly.
For me, the queen of the emotionally insecure, the biggest payoff was not in developing new business indirectly from my blogging. It was the confidence I picked up from successfully learning how to navigate the turbulent waters of the blogosphere. I used to be the Cowardly Lion.
Posted by: Jane Genova | August 29, 2006 at 05:45 AM
Internal blogs can be measured by financial returns. That's a vital point.
Intranet ROI
Measurable ROI from hard benefits including cost savings from:
- less paper
- less hardware
- fewer headcount
- increased sales
Soft benefits include:
- increased employee productivity
- better customer satisfaction
- faster time to market
- improved employee retention
IBM, Oracle and Cisco all measure the impact and benefits of their intranet. And all of them have measured the value to be greater than US$1 billion. In fact, IBM has realized benefits from e-learning via the intranet to alone be more than US$284 million.
http://intranetblog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/10/18/1309095.html
Posted by: Dimitar Vesselinov | August 29, 2006 at 06:56 AM
Your list inspired my post today regarding the ROI is priceless item. I agree that few blogs can be measured by financial returns, but not to the extent that most people settle for.
Although I don't go into detail about this on my post, I think the most effective way to measure blog ROI is by looking at the blog as part of a total marketing system.
A great deal of value measurement for a blog is qualitative, without a doubt. But there are ways to define "conversions" and assign monetary values to them. There isn't an exact science or a perfect solution, but people can get a better idea of ROI if they know how to approach it.
Posted by: Jason Cormier | August 29, 2006 at 08:12 AM
Dimitar, you speak of an intranet-- but that is a one way conversationss.
ROIs on Blogs is a totally different situation. If you have a matrix measure template, could you please share ?
I would like to see a POC where corporation can aggregate the various value props /streams into a simple matrix to facilitate a fair process decisions for stategy.
Posted by: /pd/pd | August 29, 2006 at 08:17 AM
Love it. And I also love it that you said it in far fewer words than I could have! Great post!
Posted by: Wendy Piersall | August 30, 2006 at 12:00 PM
Wonderful post, Shel.
ROI is pretty stupid for any situation, really. Like you said, how do you measure ROI of politeness, good reputation, customer satisfaction, efficient receptionist, new carpet, office plants, business cards, etc.?
Most business activity cannot be measured via ROI, it's silly to think that if it has no good ROI, it's not worth doing.
But the ROI in terms of time could be a factor in blogs. Is your blogging worth the time you put into it? Or could you spend less time on blogging (writing your posts, reciprocal commenting, template tweaking, uploading video, etc.) and more time on other things?
Shel, got any video of you on YouTube or Google Video?
Posted by: steven e. streight aka vaspers the grate, on the edge of evening | August 30, 2006 at 01:58 PM
Hello, Shel! Not related to this post specifically, but wanted to get in touch. My boss tells me you mentioned that you'd left a post on our blog but we didn't respond. We didn't get it - very sorry. (We're new to this whole thingee, obviously.) Looking forward to meeting you in Toronto.
Posted by: Mary Ellen | August 30, 2006 at 02:38 PM
Great list
Posted by: Jeremiah Owyang | August 30, 2006 at 03:52 PM
Hi
About thought #9,a China-specific blog EWSN had this post where he discusses how a blogpost on such incidents as the bombing could be much more noticable if the blog is created on a big portal than independently hosted.
So the content may not be only thing to defy if a blog will be hot or not,especially for the new ones.
You could check the lengthy post here.
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060827_1.htm
Posted by: Raymond | August 30, 2006 at 11:04 PM
Very informative article. I am knew to the blogging world, and enjoyed your insights.
Posted by: Website Builder | September 03, 2006 at 09:37 AM
Very informative, although it has been reinforced a thousand times. Actually, its a good idea to reinforce and hope the quality of the blogosphere goes up.
Posted by: Vasuki Kasturi | September 04, 2006 at 08:04 AM
Ditto Jeremiah :) - and Shel, I'm glad I'm not the only one whose mind has random blogging thoughts pop into it from time to time!
Posted by: Easton Ellsworth | September 12, 2006 at 08:51 AM