Friday, February 19, 2010

Three Keywords for Bloggers in 2010

The three keywords idea sparked my interest in actually sitting down and defining my keywords, which I went ahead and did, but recently I have been thinking about if there were three keywords that applied to all bloggers. Here is what I came up with ...

Value



It seems many more bloggers are coming into the field now with motivations to make money, become famous, get a better job. This is fine, and in fact I try to help people do those things, but if we go in with selfish motivations only then we will miss out on many of the things that make blogging so cool.

Therefore "value" has to be top of our minds. What are you giving, as well as taking back?

Community



Community leads on from the previous point. We have to serve, include, engage and most of all respect our community.

Few blogs exist in a vacuum, and unlike a broadcast medium, our audience does not just have to passively accept and consume, but they interact and are highly likely to be our peers as much as prospects.

So we have to have discussions, not talk down but across, and hold on to our values.

Balance



This might be a controversial one, as I know many bloggers love a good fight. It seems the snarkiness, attacks, and gossip are not going to go away, but at the same time there seems a growing vigilantism. I fully support people tracking down real bad guys, but I worry people are too willing to go on the attack now, and the consequences one day soon will be irreversible.

Before you go on the offensive, I think it serves everybody better to try and find both sides of a story, show some empathy, and consider your position.

Not only will you pay more respect to the people involved, it will also raise your respect in the eyes of your audience, or at the very least, might prevent you from having egg on your face.

What do you think?

About the author: Chris Garrett is a new media commentator and internet marketing coach living in the UK. You can find him regularly writing for clients such as Cogniview, the PDF to Excel People, and his own blog at chrisg.com

Thursday, February 11, 2010

NEW REVOLUTION IN IRAN?

Here is an excerpt from Melik Kaylan's article, Iran On The Brink:

Iran's turning point might come this week or in a month when the Nawrouz (Iranian new year) celebrations kick in, and no amount of nuclear enrichment claims will change things in the long run. On Bahman or Revolution Day (Feb. 11) the regime appeared to have won the numbers game against protesters, having bribed and bused in street-loads of pro-government supporters and stifled opposition turnout. Even then, according to various sources, protests erupted in disparate neighborhoods and massively in provincial cities. State television had to dub away outbursts of anti-government chanting registered on tape during its own rallies. (Forbes, February 12, 2010.)

Do Not Read This

More cartoons by Cox & Forkum on Iran.

Related: My post, HELP IRAN ELECTION DOT COM.


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