Overwhelmed. That’s often how I feel upon sitting down at my computer some evenings: too much to do, too little time, and, when the formers are conveniently in abundance, too little motivation. Am I lazy, overextended, or lacking time management skills? Nope. I’m just a growing blogger.
More than we bargain for
When most individuals get into blogging for the first time, whether for pleasure, practice, or profit, the expected return on investment is quite high. Spend fifteen minutes writing a blog post, tack on a picture, hit “publish,” and BAM– instant success, right? Not so easy. A blogger can have the most fantastic ideas, writing style, and talent and yet still fall her face if she never leaves her own website.
A successful blogger engages in dozens of activities in order to promote, enrich, and share content. Whether it’s building successful friendships on social networking websites, advertising to business and corporations, or doing extended research for a longer article, there’s always work to be done, even for a casual blogger.
What’s required?
What must a blogger do to stay on top of his or her game? I subscribe to Wayne Smallman’s theory of the “Social Loop”– that is, write, share, and promote. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds: these three functions, simple while separate, quickly become an unworkable tangle to the amateur once they’re mixed together. It’s kind of like a game of rock, paper, scissors where nothing beats anything:
- Writing requires a firm knowledge of the subject at hand and up-to-date awareness of recent events and press releases, if the topic is timely. The unique format of blogging dictates that a successful post build in references (i.e., hyperlinks) to establish and maintain trust.
- Sharing the quality content of others is a necessary social good to ensure an audience that you have a wide-encompassing perspective that includes more than just yourself. A successful sharer is engaged on a number of sites including Digg, Mixx, Google Reader, del.icio.us, and others. Unfortunately, becoming a well-respected contributor on these sites requires a good deal of time that might detract from the quality of your writing.
- Promotion can only occur when the Internet trusts and is interested by you. You can’t hope to successfully promote your content on sites such as the ones listed above unless you’ve proven yourself as an individual that intends good for the whole community rather than your individual interests.
Altogether, proficiency in these three categories requires familiarity with an overwhelming quantity of software and Internet utilities: content management systems such as WordPress or TypePad, social bookmarking websites, microblogging services, and more; the list goes on and on.
Something’s gotta give
The above list of requirements, fearsome as it is, only pertain to the “simple” act of blogging. When you consider that these activities must compete with real-world activities such as work, school, or hobbies, the blogging balancing act becomes significantly trickier. Can a blogger successfully eschew any of these activities?
Surprisingly, the community seems to suggest no, one can’t.
Daily posting seems to be the baseline, at a minimum. Attention to social media minutiae is a must. Self-promotion without reciprocation is unheard of. Fall short on any one component of the Social Loop, and the entire construction collapses.
Does this sound wrong to you?
I don’t know about you, but some of these expectations seem a bit unreasonable. As much as I love technology, the Internet, and computers, there’s no way I can make the sacrifice to tether myself to a machine all day to expertly execute all the concepts of the Social Loop.
The question is: do you judge me for this? Do you judge other bloggers for this? I’ve always thought that when an individual reads a blog article, they consume the content with an educated grain of thought. If this isn’t the case, perhaps I ought to buckle down and quit my day job!
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Tagged as:
promotion,
sharing,
social loop,
time management,
wayne smallman,
writing
Must blogging be a balancing act?
by Andy DeSoto on July 29, 2008
Overwhelmed. That’s often how I feel upon sitting down at my computer some evenings: too much to do, too little time, and, when the formers are conveniently in abundance, too little motivation. Am I lazy, overextended, or lacking time management skills? Nope. I’m just a growing blogger.
More than we bargain for
When most individuals get into blogging for the first time, whether for pleasure, practice, or profit, the expected return on investment is quite high. Spend fifteen minutes writing a blog post, tack on a picture, hit “publish,” and BAM– instant success, right? Not so easy. A blogger can have the most fantastic ideas, writing style, and talent and yet still fall her face if she never leaves her own website.
A successful blogger engages in dozens of activities in order to promote, enrich, and share content. Whether it’s building successful friendships on social networking websites, advertising to business and corporations, or doing extended research for a longer article, there’s always work to be done, even for a casual blogger.
What’s required?
What must a blogger do to stay on top of his or her game? I subscribe to Wayne Smallman’s theory of the “Social Loop”– that is, write, share, and promote. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds: these three functions, simple while separate, quickly become an unworkable tangle to the amateur once they’re mixed together. It’s kind of like a game of rock, paper, scissors where nothing beats anything:
Altogether, proficiency in these three categories requires familiarity with an overwhelming quantity of software and Internet utilities: content management systems such as WordPress or TypePad, social bookmarking websites, microblogging services, and more; the list goes on and on.
Something’s gotta give
The above list of requirements, fearsome as it is, only pertain to the “simple” act of blogging. When you consider that these activities must compete with real-world activities such as work, school, or hobbies, the blogging balancing act becomes significantly trickier. Can a blogger successfully eschew any of these activities?
Surprisingly, the community seems to suggest no, one can’t.
Daily posting seems to be the baseline, at a minimum. Attention to social media minutiae is a must. Self-promotion without reciprocation is unheard of. Fall short on any one component of the Social Loop, and the entire construction collapses.
Does this sound wrong to you?
I don’t know about you, but some of these expectations seem a bit unreasonable. As much as I love technology, the Internet, and computers, there’s no way I can make the sacrifice to tether myself to a machine all day to expertly execute all the concepts of the Social Loop.
The question is: do you judge me for this? Do you judge other bloggers for this? I’ve always thought that when an individual reads a blog article, they consume the content with an educated grain of thought. If this isn’t the case, perhaps I ought to buckle down and quit my day job!
Tagged as: promotion, sharing, social loop, time management, wayne smallman, writing