Inspiration isn't shiny
Posted by Brent Dixon on May 15th, 2008
A great conversation with Tim over dinner tonight brought up this:
I probably write one out of every ten ideas I have for a post. Why? Because I tend to overthink, over-present, and tie a bow around my point. This doesn’t just stress me out (and it does) – pre-packaging a point clips off the conversation. In trying to wrap up my own conclusions, I bypass the fact that what I really need and want for any given topic is your collective perspective.
What hurts my blogging? Formatting. Packaging. Which is dumb.
Here’s to grittiness, reality, and ideas.
Great observation, Brent! I never really thought about it, but I do the same thing. My journalism training from before online communication was maintstream is hard to shed – but I keep working at not “packaging everything up so nicely” in the name of true idea sharing! Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Brent, It seems to me that your post is a perfect example of the point you seem to be making. Blogs can be conversation starters which cry out for response. You aren’t saying that grammar, style and form in blogs aren’t important, are you?
Ginny – I definitely think grammar (and spelling – which I flubbed on my 1st comment!) are important. I guess what I agree with and what I thought Brent was saying is to float your thoughts out there without rehashing over and over again before posting (in order to come to your own rational conclusion about the idea).
When I first starting blogging I approached posts like a newspaper article to be written, checked, proofed, thought through, etc. I don’t do this anymore (or at least as much!).
Worse yet, you can be like me and avoid controversy completely with your blog. One of my favorite blogs out there is Ron Shevlin’s Marketing ROI. Why? He tackles tough issues decisively – totally unafraid of the fallout. THAT’s what gets people to comment. THAT’s what drives return readership.
My blog may never be Chunky Monkey, but my goal is to release it from its vanilla state.
Kristi and CU Warrior, I often misspell words in comments. I compose my response, read it over, think I’ve corrected everything hit “submit” and realize I spelled “your’re” wrong.
I wonder if personal blogs are different from blogs that have a company or FI like a credit union behind them? I applaud bloggers who aren’t afraid of controversy, who aren’t afraid to share thoughts that are unfiltered. I also believe that if the blog represents something larger than the individual some filtering might be necessary.
@CUWarrior: As a League person, I can definitely relate to the vanilla blues – it’s hard to put stuff out there that’s controversial because I’m not PAID to be controversial. :)
On the other hand, by relaying the good work that NC credit unions (including yours) are doing to help their members, I think my blog is a better source of information.
And I agree with your points about Shevlin’s blog. To that list I would add OpenSource CU & Currency Marketing.
@Ginny and @Jeff Maybe the beauty of a purist’s blog is the fact that it’s unfiltered? Not sure. That’s another debate for another day. I would submit, however, that Brent is exactly right. Our goal shouldn’t be to complete the conversation with our posts. Rather, our goal should be to START a conversation. Inevitably, the more time I spend on a post (polishing, researching, etc.), the fewer comments I get.
The beauty of the Boardcast and CU Communicator blogs is that they completely serve their purpose: interactive communication with a specific target market. I don’t publicize my blog to our members. No reason behind that, I just don’t. It was started as an experiment, and I guess it is in permanent beta. :)
Good post Brent. This was the magic that Trey brought to Open Source CU. Dropping a rock into a pond and letting the community complete the ripples. I look forward to you, Charlie, Doug, Brandon and Matt throwing a few more rocks.
The point of whether a corporate blog should be a reflection of the individual or the company is a really good discussion point. Companies are hard to relate to without personality. It really is a dilemma for traditional credit unions who are beginning to blog.
It all comes down to a blogging strategy. If you want to stir the pot, stir the pot. If you want to provide useful information, provide useful information. It’s too bad that comments are the only visible sign of blogging success.
Good Post.
@tim: huh? what about traffic? to me, it’s too bad so many people only equate traffic with success. I think comments are a great gauge of engagement. I’d rather have 10 engaged readers on my blog, than 100 who read but don’t engage.
but you are spot on about the blogging strategy. hate to say this, but I do believe that more times than not, a blog reflects the blogger. So if you’re not comfortable putting opinions out there, you’re more apt to throw the pebbles in the pond than “closing up the conclusions”.
nothing right or wrong with that. it is what it is.
Brent, just color me jealous that you can post a valid point and spark a conversation in under a paragraph.
I still havent mastered that!
Humble looks good on you. Shows you’re growing as a person, and a blogger. Peace.
Thanks for all of your comments.
Ginny -
I do think grammar and spelling are important, because crazy mistakes are distracting from the message. The flipside, and what I’m trying to avoid, is when these, along with general style and phraseology, becoming distracting to the writer and get in the way of output and conversation.
I agree with Tim, the different between personal voice and company voice in a “corporate blog” is an important conversation point. I think Verity has done a great job of setting some basic grand rules, but letting the fact that Verity’s employees are the company carry the weight of the voice. I guess the bottomline is, especially if your blog only has an author or two, choose your writers wisely so you don’t have to filter. Your writer’s voice should be a natural echo of the company’s.
Tim -
I agree. Trey has an incredible ability to communicate and effortlessly get people to unpack themselves. He’s an engaging guy.
Dang, I need to visit that fool.
Tony -
Thanks for saying that. It speaks to what I need to work on – this kind of thing doesn’t come naturally to me. But in a lot of cases, just plopping an idea down in a few digestible sentences and letting to community run with it is the best way to spark conversation. I like that the most, because I always learn a lot from you all in the comments.
windsurfrr -
That means a lot coming from you.
The biggest ripple in my blog pond was when I posted out of pure fury for the shi….I mean crappy service I received from AVIS—and it HERTZ….
I didn’t spell check, think twice, I just slammed the submit button. Very cathartic.
I find if I over think things – radio silence.