The Noisy Tragedy Only Exists If You Don’t Interact

Seth Godin suggests that the volume of content from a blog will produce more readers and even more loyal readers in his post, “The noisy tragedy of the blog commons.”

I don’t believe the volume of content on blogs or an individual blog is anything new, I know I was not able to keep up with the volume of traditional media content.

To me it’s a matter of design and desire.

RSS feed readers do give people the ability to review more content easily, but even this new design tool for reviewing content can overwhelmed the reader. I think a happy medium will develop for people, if you cannot cope with the volume of RSS feeds, unsubscribe or hire someone to help.

Seth suggests,

“over time, as blogs reach the mass market, the number of new readers coming in is going to go down, and the percentage of loyal readers will increase. The loyal readers are going to matter more. Blogs with restraint, selectivity, cogency and brevity (okay, that’s a long way of saying “making every word count”) will use attention more efficiently and ought to win.”

I think Seth raises an interesting point about the content issue, and he might be right if content on your blog was the only way to get new readers. That’s why I disagree with him as content is not the only determining factor in gaining new readers.

Developing relevant content is a super way to build loyal readers. But to find new audiences, a blogger has to be involved in their community. Effective blogging to me requires blogger relations or outreach on the part of a blogger. I think commenting and sending trackbacks are two of the best ways to interact within your community. That community involvement translates into conversation on other blogs, and if relevant, will produce new readers for the blogger. Seth misses one of the most important factors in successful blogging. Conversation on and between other blogs produces new readers.

Thanks Stowe

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Filed under: Blogging Tips

Posted by on March 14, 2006 11:09 AM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (2)

Comments

Great point on the "community" aspect of blogging. Content will always be "King," but community involvement is "Queen."

The time you spend building relationships with other bloggers is similar, in many respects, to the time spent building relationships with prospective clients. It builds trust, which becomes interest in each other's activities and endeavors.

Again, great perspective on content and community.

- Greg

Posted by: Greg Magnus | March 17, 2006 5:06 PM

Greg, Thanks for the feedback and analogy.

I was wondering if you had any examples of where building community has helped your blogging efforts?

Posted by: John Cass | March 18, 2006 1:13 PM

John,

Yes, I have some experience building community, but it is limited with respect to blogging. My first "blogger" blog, defunct since moving on to WordPress, received far more comments then my current WordPress blog. Initially, I spent a lot more time on other blogs commenting. By default, I was building a community.

I lost sight while trying to build content on my new WP blog and the “community” (and comments) came to a screeching halt. And, I enjoyed the blogging experience less and less.

Therefore, here I am back at what I truly enjoy – engaging in relevant conversation – and enjoying once again my time blogging. I'm relatively new to blogging, but hope to learn a little everyday. Thanks again for the reply.

Posted by: Greg | March 21, 2006 7:13 PM

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Does Godin come up short in “The Noisy Tragedy of the Blog Commons” and forget to mention the value of the blog “community?” ... [Read More]

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The Noisy Tragedy Only Exists If You Don’t Interact With relative ease, you’ll find a number of blog posts concerning, “The Noisy Tragedy of the Blog Commons” - by author Seth Godin. Almost everything Godin talks about gets comm... [Read More]

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