Comments on: The appropriate platform is in the eye of the beholder

By: brainadmin

brainadmin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:32:24 +0000

@Steph - there’s also the possibility that few people are enthusiastic about cat toys… In all seriousness, it seems that it’s not enough to be knowledgeable and a mediocre communicator unless you happen to be “first in” to a new, exploding area. Otherwise, the better presenter wins.

By: Steph

Steph — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:59:45 +0000

Ugh. Did you have to put the ‘25 years ago’ thing in there? I still claim to be 24, although I have been involved in ’social media’ since the BBS heyday of the early 1980s. (sigh)

In my learned (ha!) opinion, your two types of bloggers are separated only by lack of energy and, perhaps, skill. I think the person telling the anecdotes about the cat *means* to be as informative as the person who has no pets but has more time & (let’s call it) journalistic skill to do a more complete exposition of the subject, and one that provides more information to a wider range of potential readers/Googlers. More often than not, I think you will find the cat-lover completely flummoxed about why s/he does not get more hits for her brilliant reviews of cat toys.

Of course both should have blogs — how dull would the world be without goofy pet-lovers who just enjoy sharing their lives with complete strangers!

By: brainadmin

brainadmin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:02:09 +0000

@Kristen - thanks.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:41:45 +0000

I absolutely agree with you Mark. To each his own.

By: brainadmin

brainadmin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:14:44 +0000

@Paul - Thank you for stopping by. You make an excellent point about the value of comments.

As you may have discovered, I was more concerned about the ideas in the Copyblogger post than in yours. Brian’s post seemed to encourage exclusion of more casual bloggers, which bothered me.

Perhaps I’m overreacting and, truth be told, blogs can be a bit unwieldy to manage for the less experienced Web user if they stray beyond Wordpress.com or Blogger (I have no experience with Moveable Type, so I can’t comment on that platform.) But as long as the tool is there, you really can’t prevent a type of person from using it.

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:36:36 +0000

Thanks for the mention. Personally, I think a blog is first a foremost a “conversation” tool, rather than a communication too. I harken back to something Dave Winer said years ago, that the comments left in response to a post are just as important - if not more so - than the post itself.

Great post Mark. Again, thanks for the mention.