This was session one from Blogworld Expo and a good place to start for those “new” to blogging. Led by Andy Wibbels and Jen McClure, the pair gave a very solid overview into blogging, with the Q&A session probably the most helpful. For those used to the new medium, the concepts covered may have been “basic”, but by the end of hour plus discussion, no one walked away empty handed.
McClure works for a non profit and it’s interesting to see just how many in the non profit sector have jumped aboard the blog train. Her bio states,
Jennifer McClure is the executive director of the Society for New Communications Research, a global, nonprofit 501(c)(3) think tank dedicated to the advanced study of new communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, and their effect on traditional media, professional communications, business and society. Her 20-year career includes work in all facets of professional communications, including market and media research, journalism and publishing, PR and marketing consultation. She is also the co-founder and producer of New Communications Forum.
I always find it interesting to see what platform the experts use. In this case, Wibbels uses Wordpress and McClure is a Typepad fan. One thing is for sure, and validated by the people I spoke to at Blogworld is that once you’ve started using a certain platform, it is very hard to change.
A lot of people probably thought Blogworld was about a whole heap of super geeks hanging out, talking one’s and zero’s. The refreshing part of it was that while true, you could talk to people who quickly made you lose the will to live, there were folks like Wibbels and McClure who gave a down to earth, in plain english overview of the whole blogging scene, the pitfalls, the benefits, how to get started and how to keep going.
If you attended Business Blogging 101 and then Debbie Weil’s session with a very strong panel from “corporate”, you will have learned what you needed to in order to get started, and more importantly, how to sell the whole concept of blogging internally.
His book, titled “The Cult of the Amateur, How the Internet is killing our culture” has more critics than George Bush. It’s very name strikes a discord with “digital workers” of todays internet marketplace.
The Age ran a story recently on him. I found his website and interestingly enough, there was a link on his blog to an excerpt of 44 pages of his actual book.
I began to read and sat there in front of my screen, arms crossed, defensive to an almost militant point about the very industry I make a paltry living from! I expected a tirade of abuse and litany from a delusional, failed tech businessman who had a chip on each shoulder. He in fact refers to himself as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Known for founding the now defunct Audiocafe back in “the dot-com” era and now blogger and podcaster, Keen has become the true anti-believer. An internet-atheist. In many respects, to me, his book is the equivalent of Richard Dawkins “The God Delusion”.
As I started to make my way through the first 10 pages or so, I found myself leaning forward. I uncrossed my arms. Damn, this guy is a pretty good writer I said to myself. And he is. Real good. I didn’t even hate myself for admitting it.
The strength of Keen’s writing is his very own admission that he is essentially flawed. He makes this statement in the first pages…
So yes, I peddled the original internet dream. I seduced investors and almost became rich. This, therefore, is no ordinary critique of Silicon Valley. It’s the work of an apostate. An insider now on the outside who has poured out his cup of kool-aid and resigned his membership in the cult.
Keen’s very much against Web 2.0. It’s one of those buzz words that gets thrown around a lot. In fact, a lot of people still don’t really get it. I for one am not sure why I embrace it so casually. I suppose I’ve never really thought about what Web 2.0 is anymore than the next guy. I’d like to think I understand a little about what Web 2.0 companies are trying to do, trying to create, trying to achieve.
I think Andreessen refers to guys like Andrew Keen when he states:
As a result of the widespread adoption of language like “Web 2.0 companies” and the “Web 2.0 space” — and startups referring to themselves as such, most of which will fail — you get a predictably cynical backlash from people who then dismiss the whole category as trendy marketing hype full of me-too wannabes and in the process throw out the baby with the bathwater and dismiss all the legitimately new and exciting products and companies that are being created all around us.
Keen thinks that the internet is killing off mainstream media. To me, his righteousness is a little over the top. It’s as if he thinks that mainstream media like TV, radio and press deserve to survive for an eternity, that its their god given right. I personally think that that’s just crap. A bit like the English thinking they deserve to win the Ashes for ever. Or the Americans thinking that the rightful home of the Americas Cup is on the East Coast of the US.
Tom Peters has got a great slide in one of his powerpoint decks that goes something like this,
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less”, the quote by General Eric Shinseki, former US Army Chief Of Staff.
On the day Keen released his book, he was invited to talk at Google. The video is here.
Don’t get too carried away because there’s 59 minutes of content, but if you want to understand where he’s coming from, and you’re trying to run away from your children or spouse and want something to do while you drink a bottle of chablis, then watch the entire thing.
The English have never been really very successful at criticising the US. Dawkins is about as welcome at most US Universities as a prostrate exam. I’m totally convinced that there would have been some very clever people at Google on the day he spoke there, wanting to run Keen over with one of those silly electric powered uni-cycles after he was done berating the industry that spawned the search giant.
Keen also makes some great sweeping generalisations. Come to think of, so do I. Maybe we all do. I blame my parents. Or something like that. He states,
“For the real consequence of the Web 2.0 revolution is less culture, less reliable news, and a chaos of useless information”.
It is I suppose if you allow it to be. What I think Keen fundamentally misses is that we have lost the power to choose. The internet as a medium gives us this freedom. Just because you read a story in a blog or an online newspaper doesn’t make it true. My 6 year old even understands that.
He goes on…
But perhaps the biggest casualties of the Web 2.0 revolution are real businesses with real products, real employees, and real shareholders. Every defunct record label, or laid off newspaper reporter, or bankrupt independent bookstore is a consequence of “free” user-generated internet content - from Craigslist free advertising, to YouTube’s free music videos, to Wikipedia’s free information.
By stealing away our eyeballs, the blogs and wikis are decimating the publishing, music, and news gathering industries that created the original content those websites “aggregate”.
Do you really agree? I think Keen starts to push the proverbial up-hill when he reckons that the blogs etc are stealing away our eyeballs. No they’re not. And this nonsense about news industries being the original creator of content. What? Newspapers and TV networks have been syndicating content for years. They’re the masters of aggregation. The pioneer and creator of the saying “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”. All the internet did was make the act of syndicating and aggreating a lot easier. And faster.
Today on the web where everyone has an equal voice…
No they don’t. The internet, like any economic force, has its own gravitational pull. Traffic is controlled by the chosen few. Not everyone who starts a blog about a specific subject can master the field. True, the barrier to entry is virtually zero, equal to all. But to be effective, to generate conversation, to attract readers, to make money, to be influential online takes work. The majority of us don’t or aren’t blessed with that skill.
I wish for example I could write like John Battelle. Or Marc Andreessen. Or have the online influence of Scoble. But I cant.
The 44 pages of the book excerpt finish with this:
Amateur hour has arrived, and the audience is now running the show.
Well, if that were true we’re all doomed. Personally, I’m glad to be able to participate. I love sites like Craigslist, like YouTube, I read more newspapers online than in physical print. More importantly, I love the fact that internet has allowed an academically challenged individual like me to learn. To adapt. And to change direction.
Keen’s book (well, the first 44 pages anyway) has sparked my curiosity. The conversation he begins, the argument he provokes, well, it needs to occur.
What do you think? I know what I’m going to do now though. I’m heading over to Amazon, where with one click, I’ll be able to purchase his book, have it shipped to home and emailed a confirmation in one foul swoop. And all much to his horror I imagine.
I’m doing my best to concentrate and read every word of Avinash’s new book. The content is revolutionary. And in my mind, critical to future success on the web. If you’re serious that is.
Probably the other thing thats compounding my frustration this week is that we’ve got a team in Utah at the moment finishing our Omniture web analytics certification.
I’ve got analytics up the wazoo. My head hurts.
And to top it all off, Ben, our technical lead has got me all fired up about the new iPhone. Here’s a picture of us (taken with the iPhone) at a microbrewery in Salt Lake City. And its also proof that, despite what you may have heard about Utah being full of people who believe that alcohol is the work of the devil, it is possible to find (and consume) a decent beer.
Actually, would you believe the beer we’re drinking is actually called a “Polygamy Porter” and the tag line under the beer is “Why have just one…?”.
Indeed.
Back to my point of this post. One of the nuggets to come out of the first 20 pages of “An Hour A Day” is this question, “Why Does Your Website Exist?”
Think about it for a moment. Think long and hard. Can you answer this question? I reckon we’ve got clients who would argue for hours about this and still not be able to agree or come up with an answer. They’d then hire a Big 6 accounting firm to come in for 12 months and do a SWOT analysis. Or something like that.
I know why this blog exists.
But do you know why YOUR website exists?
And here’s the other gem.
“But no matter what tool you use, the best that all this data will help you understand is what happened. It cannot, no matter how much you torture the data, tell you why it happened”.
And thats why I think Avinash has hit one out of the park so to speak with his book. Most people focus on their raw website numbers. I know we have been guilty of this. And so have our clients.
But the message is clear. Knowing why something occurs on your site or why a customer does what he does is far more important than really knowing “the what”. And if you can combine the 2, then the intelligence is even more powerful.
I’m catching up on 2 weeks of industry news - thats the good thing about travel, about jetlag, having a wi-fi connection and no kids crawling into the bed at 3am in the morning.
I suppose my wife and should do something about that now that the kids are 17 and 19 (just kidding, just kidding).
Right then. Here’s a new book that you should add to your “must read” collection.
Written by Mark Frauenfelder - the founder of Boing Boing and a good pal and business partner of John Battelle. Say no more. From the Rule The Web website.
We are witnessing the birth of a whole new Web that allows us to search, create, and share in ways never previously imagined. Discussed in practical terms but filled with cutting-edge Web savvy, Rule the Web contains little-known tips, hard-to-find facts, and easy-to-use techniques, including how to:
* Browse recklessly, free from viruses, ads, and spyware
* Turn your browser into a secure and powerful anywhere office
* Raze your old homepage to build a modern Web masterpiece
* Get the news so fast it’ll leave skidmarks in your inbox
* Fire your broker and use the Internet to get rich
* Claim your fifteen megabytes of fame with a blog or podcast
Image courtesy Rule The Web website. To learn more, head over to Amazon. Or the site is here (with reviews).
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