Archive for the 'Long Tail' Category

Blogging and Egos

Wednesday, August 16th, 2006

To a certain degree, one must have a fairly sizable ego to blog.  Hence, when that ego is not assuaged by something symbolizing readership, it can be discouraging.

Nick Carr writes a thoughtful blog entry wondering if anyone will ever read - or comment - or enter into a dialogue.  Great question - well written. Essentially discusses A-list bloggers being a self-perpetuating dynasty until they quit or die.

He promptly gets humliated by A-list bloggers here, here, here and the subsequent discussion certainly is numero uno on TechMeme.

While I’ve never entered this debate before, I find that I have something to say about it.  Andy Warhol’s “15 minutes of fame” comes to mind.  Starting to blog is a lonely place.  Most of the A-listers were probably there at one point and now are not sure how they “got lucky”.  They’ve just forgotten how lonely it was at one point and now may think they have all the blogging answers. 

I think whatever readership and “fame” is generated to a person via blogging is somewhat short-lived.  To think otherwise is to believe that every startup from Silicon Valley will succeed because of its location.  History would prove otherwise and will do so again.

As Dennis Miller used to say after his rants - “But that’s just my opinion.  I could be wrong.”

The Reach Podcast - Episode 22

Monday, August 14th, 2006

What is the long tail? With Robert Scoble leaving Microsoft and going to PodTech, has he been surprised by being confronted with being responsible for discovering and developing podcast and vodcast talent and creating quality, compelling content now? Click here for the new episode from The Media Swamp.