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Measuring Blogs: Quantity or Quality?
Blogging shouldn’t be about volume, but about interactive quality. Mena Trott, co-founder of Six Apart, Inc., publishers of the MovableType and a BlogOn sponsor recently said, "I've gone from wanting a readership of tens of thousands to wanting a readership of 10. The trick is to reach the right 10."
Many bloggers have adopted a set of attitudes that measure their worth and importance by their ratings. And it's no wonder: blogging’s A-List is determined exclusively by ratings - the number of readers of any given blog.
The hunger for ratings sometimes reminds me of Howard Beale, the character Peter Finch played in the movie “Network,” who was murdered on camera for having lousy ratings.
If this was how it worked throughout media, the National Enquirer would be more relevant than the New York Times and Fox would matter more than PBS. In both cases, what really matters is not how many people are being informed and influenced, but who is being informed and influenced.
Conferenza, an e-zine covering tech conferences recently quoted consultant Amy D. Wohl on a similar note. "I know a private blog with five members, but they're all medical researchers. Perhaps they'll discover a cure for cancer some day. Who's to say that blog isn't infinitely more valuable than one with 10,000 readers?" She has a point, even if Suicide Girls has higher ratings.
Blogging is not about attention, although many bloggers have learned that if you want attention, be controversial. If you’re not resourceful enough to stir controversy, then perhaps you can emulate today’s TV producers, and be banal. My preference is for those thoughtful writers who try to be informative, who provoke thought, who reveal fresh perspectives. I prefer in so many ways the thousand writers who reach 100 a day to some bloggers who reach one million per day.
BlogOn will examine issues like this. As a social medium, we look at not just the commercial opportunities of blogging and other social media tools, but on the greater commercial implications of these powerful interactive communications tools.
Posted by Chris Shipley at 07:57 AM on July 06, 2004
Comments
Of course, it's also often the case that only bloggers with the big numbers get to pontificate in front of audiences about the meaning of blogging. ;)
Posted by: The One True b!X ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.blogonevent.com/blogon2004/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 8, 2004 03:53 PM
Hrm. So my comments were here after I posted them. Where'd the black hole come from.
Posted by: The One True b!X at July 8, 2004 04:06 PM
Nevermind. Some sort of Typekey weirdness maybe. When I posted that second one, my first one wasn't actuall displayed here at all.
*shrug*
Posted by: The One True b!X at July 8, 2004 04:07 PM
Really Great resource,
Thank you very much !
Posted by: Hydrocodone at September 21, 2006 06:42 AM
Hello all cool blog
Posted by: Hydrocodone at October 3, 2006 05:17 AM
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