Blogs like the sands on a seashore
December 3rd 2008 08:12
While talking to my boss this morning about the office blog, which I maintain, he implied that blogs are the most effective way of reaching people. Well, maybe blogs that are well known are, but blogs like the half dozen I contribute to at various times don’t do any serious reaching of people at all. Even though I wish they did.
I’ve just been looking at the NZ NetGuide site, where they list a bunch of blogs that are the ‘best for 2008.’ Now you’d think that out of that list I’d have heard of at least some of them. Nope. Nary a one.
Amongst the NZ sites, there’s one called Prizecheck, where you can find competitions and giveaways. Never heard of it. There’s one (rather out of date now) for supporting our Olympic team. Draws a blank. There’s the Tearaway youth site. I’ve heard of a freebie magazine called Tearaway, which this is obviously linked to, but the site is quite unfamiliar.
There’s a new local search engine: searchii.co.nz. When would I ever bother to use it? Well, in fact, I checked it out to see what it was like by putting in my own name (always a good start!). It brought up about a dozen results, some of them pretty antiquated, and by contrast with Google on the same subject, rather pathetic. (The number of search results on my name on Google would require the equivalent of a micro sd to keep track of.)
There’s a business news service, there’s buy, sell and exchange (the online version), there’s usplus, where you can provide listings for community groups. There’s something called positivepsychology and there’s carbonfarming.org.nz. Every single one a dud, as far as I’m concerned. And I suspect, if any of my blogs were actually ever to get listed on this Best of 2008 (or 9 or whatever), most people would go, Huh?
The Internet is like a newstand that’s so huge you never get to see the little magazines or newspapers stuck at the back. They might have a couple of sales a month to some enthusiasts, but in general the newstand owner doesn’t give them a second thought.
To make blogs known you’ve actually got to use other media, which seems a bit of overkill, but it’s the only way it’ll work. And even then it may be a struggle. With more and more people putting more and more effort into producing sites on every topic under the sun, and with the sites that already exist adding more and more material day by day, there’s no way we’ll ever get to know an infinitesimal fraction of what’s out there.
Does it matter? Probably not. The thing is that the stuff is there if you actually ever want it. Maybe that’s good, but it doesn’t encourage sites that require a degree of pro-activity.
I’ve just been looking at the NZ NetGuide site, where they list a bunch of blogs that are the ‘best for 2008.’ Now you’d think that out of that list I’d have heard of at least some of them. Nope. Nary a one.
Amongst the NZ sites, there’s one called Prizecheck, where you can find competitions and giveaways. Never heard of it. There’s one (rather out of date now) for supporting our Olympic team. Draws a blank. There’s the Tearaway youth site. I’ve heard of a freebie magazine called Tearaway, which this is obviously linked to, but the site is quite unfamiliar.
There’s a new local search engine: searchii.co.nz. When would I ever bother to use it? Well, in fact, I checked it out to see what it was like by putting in my own name (always a good start!). It brought up about a dozen results, some of them pretty antiquated, and by contrast with Google on the same subject, rather pathetic. (The number of search results on my name on Google would require the equivalent of a micro sd to keep track of.)
There’s a business news service, there’s buy, sell and exchange (the online version), there’s usplus, where you can provide listings for community groups. There’s something called positivepsychology and there’s carbonfarming.org.nz. Every single one a dud, as far as I’m concerned. And I suspect, if any of my blogs were actually ever to get listed on this Best of 2008 (or 9 or whatever), most people would go, Huh?
The Internet is like a newstand that’s so huge you never get to see the little magazines or newspapers stuck at the back. They might have a couple of sales a month to some enthusiasts, but in general the newstand owner doesn’t give them a second thought.
To make blogs known you’ve actually got to use other media, which seems a bit of overkill, but it’s the only way it’ll work. And even then it may be a struggle. With more and more people putting more and more effort into producing sites on every topic under the sun, and with the sites that already exist adding more and more material day by day, there’s no way we’ll ever get to know an infinitesimal fraction of what’s out there.
Does it matter? Probably not. The thing is that the stuff is there if you actually ever want it. Maybe that’s good, but it doesn’t encourage sites that require a degree of pro-activity.
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Comment by Morgan Bell
Deep Pencil
Current Business News
Movie Train
Artist Quirk
if its for a business, there may be a yellow-pages ad or pamphlet mail drops etc that advise interested customers to check out the company website, and from the website you could direct people to subcribe to the blog with the lure of "FREE OFFERS" etc
i like your analogy
Comment by Mike Crowl
Webitz
Work Report
I wasn't thinking of a business particularly, but I agree, you have to do some old-fashioned advertising in order for the thing to be known.