All the best bloggers are world builders. So are science fiction/fantasy writers, politicians, entrepreneurs, architects religious leaders, non-profit organizers, teachers, and coaches. Oh, and movie directors/producers, too (George Lucas and James Cameron didn’t just make movies – they made entire worlds. Or even galaxies.)
What? You say that all they do is move pixels, letters, numbers, and the occasional image? How could bloggers possibly be world builders?
First of all, relax on one point: I’m not saying that bloggers are planet builders. I don’t know what your religious beliefs are (they are your business, after all) but I’m not implying that bloggers possess superhuman abilities to move and rearrange matter into organized clumps (although you could be forgiven for thinking that some of them might be under the delusion that they can do such things).
Worlds aren’t just planets. Worlds, going back to etymology and history for just a moment, are not limited to being orbs in space that orbit stars. World is a term that related to things like “turning chaos into order”. World can also be a self-contained, unique reality that exists separate to the “real world”.
A world can be an ideal place, one that represents certain characteristics, beliefs, or ideas.
Blogs have themes, rules, topics of interest, visions, and calls to action.
Here are a few examples:
Chris Brogan: a world of human, café shaped businesses
Beth Kanter: world of compassion where non-profit organizations can use social media to be successful
Rob Diana: world for better coding, design, and techonology
Robert Scoble: world of cool and useful technology
Fred Wilson: world where more people are educated in business fundamentals
Seth Godin: world where more people realize what incredible opportunities are available to us all and what we lose when we squander them
Darren Rowse: a world where individuals can improve their lives by making money online using blogs and social media
Michael Martine: a world where businesses make better use of blogs and social media to be more successful
Steven Hodson: a world where companies and individuals stop making stupid mistakes with technology (see also Justin Kownacki)
Hugh MacLeod: a world where people get off their asses, follow their passions, and do great work
Mitch Joel: a world where companies grasp the fact that media is changing and baby, you’d better run smartly with it
Introvert Zone: a world where introverts can have self-respect and live happy, productive lives
Ian M Rountree: a world where you can do cool stuff, get better, and do even more while growing as an individual
Bill Wren: a world where people can find tools to become better writers
Steve Spalding: a world where you turn things inside out, split the atoms apart, and find the goodness that no one else has been smart enough to find yet
Louis Gray: a world where everyone gets to see and benefit from all of the good technology that’s out there, especially the great stuff that gets overlooked at times
Dave Winer: a world where technology is used intelligently as part of an overall democratic, fair society (see also: Doc Searls, David Weinberger)
Alexander Van Elsas: a world where free technology, the rights of the individual, and commerce can coexist
Jessica Doyle: a loving world full of wonderful art
Merlin Mann: a world where people have the tools to do their best work, and then they go do it
Gary Vanynerchuk: a world where people appreciate the complexity and range of great wines in the world
Brian Solis: a world where companies use social media, public relations and communications effectively and thoughtfully (see also Adam Singer)
Naomi Dunford: a world where individuals can start thriving small businesses instead of working for “the corporation” (see also: Jonathan Fields)
Valeria Maltoni: a world where everyone recognizes the power of honest and significant conversation
Kelly Diels: a world where we better understand the importance of sex, money and meaning and how together they intersect and shape our lives
Dan Schawbel: a world where people realize the power of their personal brand and how it precedes them at every step of the way
Have you visited any cool worlds lately? Better still, have you made any?
Related articles by Zemanta
- Thought wrestling – the sport of different thinkers (broadcasting-brain.com)
- How to start 2010 by doing better work (broadcasting-brain.com)
- 11 Characteristics of Highly Influential Blog(ger)s (techipedia.com)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=13649096-9599-4aeb-8db8-c61646619fca)
It’s less than entirely fun, having entire planets swim about in your head. I suspect that a lot of world-building bloggers express in free arenas because it’s an excellent way to let the pressure of innate creativity out. It helps when it’s something useful, as well.
I’ll do my best to live up to the tagline! Thanks, Mark!
Ian M Rountree´s last blog ..Confronting the Absense of Evidence
World builders is a good way of putting it. I like to put it as “ways of seeing.” There really is no objective reality we can fully grasp; we all “see” the same things but from different perspectives. Unless you are literally standing exactly where I am, seeing what I am seeing through my eyes and processing it with my brain, you can’t see the world as I do, nor can I see the way you do. All our communicating (like blog posts) is about trying to help others see what we do and understand it as we do. So it’s true, we are building worlds – our worlds, so others can share them.
To me, that’s what makes it interesting. Since I’m currently reading Godin’s latest book, I’ve been talking a lot about him. One reason is that as I read, I get a sense for how he is seeing the world. Sometimes it is a new way for me but quite often it is a way I see but have never specifically thought of or articulated in the way he has. It’s what I love about reading and travelling the web: new ideas, similar ideas, buckets of worlds to step into. (btw … thanks for the link!)
Bill´s last blog ..Seth Godin on linchpins, focus, spreading stories
Wow .. thank you for including me in this list of much smarter people than myself. I’m not sure if I should be honored or suggest that you check in with your doctor
My world is one that wants to de-code everything and explore the reality of what lies beneath. What works and why.
x
Lucy Thorpe´s last blog ..Find Your Niche
As a speculative fiction fan (and sometime writer) I love this analogy. Curious what the others on the list think if what world you see them as building matches up with their own sense of it.
Michael Martine´s last blog ..Six Ways To Get People Tweeting About Your Blog Launch
@Everyone – thanks for the comments! Good question and food for thought, Michael!
[...] Best Of « The best bloggers are world builders [...]
I agree with Hodson, you put me in a list with people that have way better blogs than I do! Thank you for the honor of inclusion.
Rob Diana´s last blog ..NoSQL Job Trends – March 2010
@Rob (and @Steven for that matter) – regardless of how good you do or don’t think you are as a blogger (and I think you and Steven both underestimate yourselves), my point is that within the confines of your blog, you are building a world. There are features, functions, rules, and values within the blog. To me, that’s world building.
[...] The best bloggers are world builders (broadcasting-brain.com) [...]
Mark, I’ve been reading Broadcasting Brain for a long time, but how ridiculous that I missed this post somehow! Thanks so much for including me in this amazing list!
Christie´s last blog ..What advice would you give an introverted student?
You are welcome, Christie!