April 28, 2006

a blog gets the audience it deserves

PT just asked me the following quetion:

What exactly is the use of blogging if you have no idea often who it is you are talking to? In other words - are they bright? Are thay sane? Are they knowledgable about the things they purport to be? If it is simply an uncontrolled medium through which anyone can say anything then it seems to me it will become no more than a modern day Tower of Babel.

I do however accept that the technology is here - but how to make it really useful?

The short answer is; a blog gets the audience it deserves. If the people reading and leaving comments on your blog are a bunch of losers and idiots, it might have more to do with the quality of what you write, and the vigilance with which you monitor your comments, than any limitations of the media.

You're right, the technology is there. Everything else is up to you.

Posted by hugh macleod at April 28, 2006 3:46 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Absolutely right! As a neophyte, I still think the tools for monitoring/gauging one's audience and the accompanying tricks of the trade remain a little obscure for the non geek.

But I'm learning that an audience grows through word of mouth regardless of comments.

Posted by: john at April 28, 2006 5:17 PM

So harsh, Hugh. So absolutely true…

Posted by: john t unger at April 28, 2006 5:44 PM

[ are a bunch of losers and idiots ]
[ are a bunch of losers and idiots ]
[ are a bunch of losers and idiots ]

Or

[ They don't give a shit ]
[ They laugh at the cartoons ]
[ They come they go ]

?

Posted by: Agarda at April 28, 2006 6:41 PM

You're right on target. You can read any blog and see the correlation between the quality of writing/big ideas and the harshness of the comments

Posted by: Chris Houchens at April 28, 2006 10:05 PM

Agarda: We come and go, and don't even talk of Michaelangelo?

Posted by: Brooks Moses at April 29, 2006 7:43 PM

Not sure that any of these comments really answers what I was trying (perhaps rather ineffectively) to ask - perhaps that only proves Hugh's point - but I don't think so!

Posted by: pt at May 2, 2006 9:37 AM

why does blogging have to be useful? does "the use of blogging" mean 'how can imake money from it?' does it mean 'how can i get the greatest number of people to look at what i'm doing?' why do you care what people think? in order to change your blog to make it what your audience wants? there are billions of people on the planet. which ones are you trying to impress and/or make money from? aren't you just doing what you do? i hope you are enjoying it. i found this blog through another blog (culturalsnow.blogspot.com) and am enjoying it very much - i like the art, i like the attitude towards art. i think it's very funny. since i like finding things i like, and this blog is one of them, it's quite useful to me :}

for me, my own blog is just another way of doing the things i do. that's good enough for me

Posted by: pigeonweather at May 3, 2006 5:39 AM

hugh - this post cries out for a gaping void cartoon!

Posted by: Toby at May 8, 2006 4:30 AM