In Naked Conversations Chapter 10, "Doing it Wrong," we took a dim view of character blogs, where fictional characters are created to either to deceive or entertain readers. We argued that it was impossible to be either transparent or authentic when being asked to reply to a cartoon moose as you are over at Moosetopia. But we also fell short of saying, "not now, not ever" for character blogs, instead we wrote:
"New people are bringing new ideas that extend blogging. Some changes are spawned by technology innovation; others by new participants addressing new or old topics with fresh voices. The rules are changing because no one, thankfully, has the power to enforce them."
Shortly after the chapter was locked up, a fan of the newest Star Wars movies, started the Darthside, a character blog that we had to admit was kind of cool. We started thinking that there may be a place for character blogs, even as marketing tools. It was just that none that existed was either to our liking or to the liking of the people we most listen to.
Yesterday Business Blog Consulting drew my attention to the new Felicity Blog in which an American girl doll blogs historic characters on her blog character blog. The target audience is young girls. The purpose is to sell dolls to them. The effect is that the blog series gives a compelling series of lessons in American history.
This hit a second nerve in me. All my life I've wondered why our teaching makes most learning boring. History is our story. It is filled with excitement, conflict and lessons for today. In school kids learn the mundanities of dates and titles. The Felicity Blog seems to me to be a better way to teach history.
And if along the way, the company sells a few dolls to children, it is a fair price to pay or so it seems to me.
