The death of A-list blogs?
October 22, 2007 //
I picked up a very cool quote from Hugh MacLeod on Twitter over the weekend. I liked it so much I thought I’d share it with you.
On blog consulting: “The people who need us, don’t get it. And the people who get it, don’t need us.”
Never a truer word be said with few exceptions.
I consult multinational brands on how to be more innovative with their marketing and I have to say, most of them don’t get it at the start. They just know they need to believe in what I like to call ‘the art of conversation’. That is, conversing with consumers about your products and services in the hope of soliciting their opinion, instead of telling them why they should like them.
Unfortunately I’m unable to share what I do with these brands so you’ll just have to take my word for it when I say I do a brilliant job 
Where to have the conversation is moving
I believe that we’ve seen a peak for A-list ‘blogs’ such as those owned by Mike Arrington and Robert Scoble. They see such huge RSS subscriptions because they’re good at what they do. But they’ve also built such huge communities because blog software has enabled those same communities to commentate on each others’ opinion.
Note that I didn’t mention Richard MacManus or my mate Hugh MacLeod. That’s mainly because Richard was extremely smart by evolving his blog into a media company. Hugh isn’t actually a blogger in my opinion. He’s an expert in marketing who gets technology and people and who just happens to blog about it.
I’m certainly not a blogger. I just happen to blog about things and people which interest me, in the hope that it makes me and my businesses more accessible.
Facebook (as a new type of platform) now introduces new opportunities for non A-list bloggers who combined, have an even louder voice within the conversation. Facebook enables more people to commentate about brands, products and services more easily than blogs ever did. This isn’t just true from a technical perspective, it’s true from a social perspective too.
If one of my friends posts a note, or they comment about something which they’re particularly qualified in, I’m likely to pass comment. Furthermore, the people with whom I’m connected with also get to see my comment and who themselves may wish to voice their opinion.
I believe A-list bloggers need to evolve how they build and maintain their communities as people’s behavior changes. Forums are dying a death because most people now prefer to build a community around their blog as opposed to someone else’s Web site. Likewise I see more people blogging less in favour of using Facebook to communicate with their network. I sometimes receive more feedback via Facebook than my blog or twitter community.
So, the same can be said for brands. I’m not saying they should ’switch’ from one to another. I’m saying they should keep their finger on the pulse to ensure they know where the conversation is taking place. If you don’t know where the conversation is happening you can’t take part. If you can’t take part, you can’t influence.
What are your thoughts? As I always say, I don’t care where I have the conversation as long as I’m having it. Feel free to comment here, on my Twitter page, or on Facebook.
offbeatmammal says 
Chris says 
oliver says 
Les Hoskins says 
Hi Paul, blogging might not be as important as it once was… but how good is Facebook really. I have started to groups there myself and er I’m not that proud of them
Point is the only group on Facebook which I thought was great was the APML group, but it has moved of to Google groups. What other secret weapons do you have on Facebook to converse with the community, or has the art of conversation become old skool.
Your point about Richard McManus creating a media company is also a good one. In one way it’s the only way to go. Even though I am not a big techmeme fan, the sites they cover act as a litmus test for the current situation and personal blogs are not in there. Blogs are not finished though, I wonder if the move away from the anarchy of thousands of opinionated gits like myself is all that cool. It will make some rich, it could also kill the conversation.
October 22nd, 2007
Don - look at how I use Facebook. I use it to communicate with my connected peers either via groups, events, status update (yes, I do communicate via my status!), walls, posted items, notes and personal messages. It’s a combination of all of the above - some work better than others depending on who’s interested in what.
I don’t have as many FB connections as I do blog readers but yet, I get much more feedback from FB than I do on the blog.
Take the Facebook Debate for example, after getting some buzz going I managed to sell 100 tickets in less than 24 hours of opening up the official registration page.
October 22nd, 2007