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.