@myreader Twitter the New IM Speak?
Twitter has really become an Internet phenomena and growth has been steady. It’s made huge inroads and has “added new dimensions to instant messaging” With Twitter came along it’s lingo, something that’s moved beyond the platform and into everyday life kind of like lol, brb, and rofl.
Some people realized that the 140 character limit had snuck into their everyday life, subconsciously making them write shorter messages, and emails. It has definitely effected how people think and has forced them to be more concise with their thoughts. I wouldn’t be surprised to see if many, who are usually long winded on their blog, begin to see a change in shorter less wordy blog posts.
But one of the most visible additions Twitter has brought to our everyday life, is the @. I’ve noticed it more often that people have started using the @ symbol to point out who they’re talking to in a chat room or in comments. It’s begun moving past the Twitter platform and how far will it go, is a question for consideration.
Do you find yourself using the @name without realizing it? Let me know via twitter or a comment here!
Make the Upcoming Section Better
In the last digg town hall someone pointed out a huge issue that plagues digg - the upcoming section. The problem pointed out is that digg has so many users on at one point, submitting news, that the upcoming section scrolls too quickly. In response, Kevin stated to use the digg spy tools, so you can better visualize the upcoming section. It was such a weak response and I was very disappointed that he didn’t acknowledge that there is a problem and that they’re working on it.
So this post is a call to Kevin Rose to change the upcoming section so that submissions are easier to see, understand, and vote on - and an example of one way that it could be changed. The idea is to give more power to the social aspect of digg, highlighting submissions from your friends.
Linkbait and Your Reputation
Here I am talking about Jason Calacanis of Mahalo again, and how he spoke against SEO. Yes, he got me with his linkbait, but not in the way he got everyone else. Instead of writing another post about how he was write or how someone was wrong I want to explore the impact on reputation that controversial linkbait has. When Calacanis spoke about the soon to be death of SEO, he started an uproar and big players got involved.
Shoemoney and Marketing Pilgrim agreed with Calacanis explaining how they agree with him, while Michael Gray, Ian Lurie, and Taylor Pratt shrieked “Long live SEO”. As you can see Calacanis’ statement created a debate, one that continues to go back and forth days after his original statement, and has definitely brought attention to Mahalo while doing so.
What would have happened if a lesser known person has made the comment Jason did? My belief is that if a relatively new blogger attempted to create the same debate and use it as linkbait, he would have failed miserably. Calacanis’ reputation in the Industry make his idea’s important, and being the CEO of a search engine that claims to be immune to “SEO” (depends on how you define SEO), puts him in the perfect position to make the claims he did.
But let’s say a new blogger did attempt to create the controversy and it succeeded. What would happen to that blogger’s reputation now? How does a new blogger hold his own against “Industry experts” like Michael Gray and Ian Lurie; experts who would be more inclined to defend their industry than Shoemoney or Marketing Pilgrim would be to defend a random blogger.
The importance of keeping your reputation intact should be of utmost important in the blogging community. That reputation adds credibility to what you write, and makes readers more likely to consider you an “expert”. New bloggers should try to stay away from creating senseless controversy as linkbait, unless it’s something you truly believe (I’m not saying Calacanis didn’t believe what he said, but he definitely wanted to send a message by saying it to a room full of SEO’s). Making friends is a lot better than making enemies when you’re starting out, and it makes life easier down the road. A friendly debate can be good, but don’t bite off more than you can chew.
College vs the Internet
I just finished my last exam for my collegiate career. I’ll graduate on the 22nd and if you’d like to come, feel free - Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ (It won’t be fun and it will be long).
But, I’ve finished college yet I feel as if I’ve accomplished nothing. I felt a greater sense of achievement when I earned my first dollar online, something that seemed to happen almost by mistake.
The rush of finishing, made me think about how useful my degree actually was. Truth of the matter is that I learned more from doing than I ever did from sitting in a classroom, listening as someone lectured to me about how they think things “should” be done.
As I look back on to it I realized that college had attempted to assassinate my innovation and creativity. That conformity and simple absorption of ideas is taught while the skills needed to be successful online are left out. Questioning, understanding, and the exploration of creativity have been lost on the formal world of college.
Many successful Internet Marketers, and Social Media Mavens are youth. They haven’t finished college, never took it seriously, or haven’t even entered it yet. They cling dearly to the childhood imagination, while humming the “Toys R Us” jingle, seeing normal life and thinking “linkbait”. Success has become marked by being carefree, the culture of the Internet (generally inline with that of Google’s) awards new ideas, and disapproves of anyone that takes life too seriously.
Becoming successful truly can be simple, but it can’t be learned from reading and studying. Formal teaching is a thing of the past and lectures have become archaic. Success in this age, especially on the Internet, can only be achieved through experience. Learn through action, grow through mistakes. Make sure to recognize what worked, and what didn’t work. Explore, imagine, and think “what if”. You never know if your idea is the next digg, facebook, or wikipedia.
How to Read a Blog Post
There’s so many posts on the web explaining how to write a post and how to write blog content, but there’s very few posts on how to read the post.
Here’s a recent post from DoshDosh.com a blog ranked in the top 15 on Technorati and a great resource for all things Social Media and blogging. Read it and let’s do a quiz!
Want Your Ideas to Spread Easily? Try Narrowing Your Message Focus
Yesterday, I visited my friend Tara’s place and noticed that she put a large piece of paper on her bedroom wall, next to where she slept.On it was written some quotations and general life principles. Tara wanted to remind herself of these words when she woke up everyday and before she went to bed. It’s a self-improvement trick to overcome negativity and focus on the important things.
So I got curious and read what she wrote. After I came home, I tried recalling what I read but could only come up with two lines. The rest were a blur.
If it was up to me, I would split the large piece of paper into little post-it notes, each with one message and paste them all on the wall or different parts of her room, perhaps one in the closet, two on the bookshelf.
I think they’ll have more impact than a large piece of paper, crammed to the brink with powerful lines. Ideas spread when they are remembered. And they stick in the mind better when they stand alone, without competition from other opposing ideas.
A persuasive blog post or sales letter argues one point and accentuates it thoroughly with analogies, metaphors, examples and references. Just one point, because too many and you’ll not only lose your own focus but the attention of your audience. You don’t want to distract them from taking action.
Too many statements and important points can be an obstacle. When you want your audience to remember a message, make it clutter-free and uncomplicated. Good marketing campaigns condense the entire event, website or product into one slogan, a few buzzwords and a tagline. And it works marvelously well.
If you can’t sum up your business in one sentence, if your visitors can’t figure out the purpose of your website in 10 seconds, you’re not communicating. You’re not sticking in their head. And that doesn’t help your ideas or brand to spread.
You’ve finished reading the article and now let’s see what you learned. Obviously if you read it the article you can see Maki wrote about how to narrow your focus so that you ideas spread quickly. But other than the meat of the post the real question is, “What did you learn about HOW to write, from reading the post”? Maki writes great content because it is thought provoking, easy to read, and teaches the reader something new.
The post used three fundamental writing techniques. He introduced a real life situation that people can connect with and his opening sentence left you wondering how the story relates to the topic; “Yesterday, I visited my friend Tara’s place and noticed that”.
Maki also bolded important content. Understanding that most blog readers don’t actually read everything, it’s important to separate out your main points. You can do this by bolding specific lines, creating a list, or writing an abstract; with the most effective being bolding and list making.
Finally, the title explains the meaning of the article and pulls readers into it. You might think that by posing a question and answering it in the title, readers would not be interested in reading the entire post, but Maki was able to make you ask the question How?. It’s that question that pushes readers to continue reading your post, subscribe to your blog, and keep reading it.
The best way to learn how to blog is by reading blogs. Learn by example, explore multiple writing styles, and posts of different lengths and topics. In the end it’s important to not only read the content but think about how the content was written and why. When reading a blog always ask the questions:
- “Why did I read this?”
- “Did I like it?”
- “What did they do different?”
- “What worked?”
- “What didn’t work?”
Have any more suggestions for reading a blog? What have you learned from your daily surfing?
