F is for Friends (and other social networks…)
By AndrewBoyd • Aug 9th, 2008 • Category: Blogging tips, Recent postsThis post is part of my lessons learned alphabetical series and follows on from D is for Design and E is for Expansion.
Friends. You gotta have them. Apparently 
Seriously though, it would be a pretty sad place without friends.
There are a number of posts around the metablogging community on exploiting the power of social networks to build blog presence (in other words, grab more readers). Since I’ve returned to blogging-for-pleasure rather than as a duty, I’ve realised that this advice is wrong. It misses the point.
Here it is, the secret of blogging, and I’m not going to charge you a cent to read it:
Blogging is about the people
Wow, it feels better to say that. Let me say it again:
Blogging is about the people.
It is not about exploiting social networks, or advertising money, or selling a point. It can be used for all of these things, but that is not what it is at the very heart of it.
It took me a long time to figure that out. I’ve met a lot of people (in real life, online, or both) through blogging - I spend more time interacting with these people via Plurk and Twitter than I do writing blog posts.
Social networking is, like blogging, about the people. If you are out there selling me something when I want to be relaxing in front of Plurk or Twitter, I will de-friend/un-follow/block you as quick as I can - and I know many other people who do as well. We’re not there to be told which blog posts to read, we are not someone’s target audience - only with time and trust comes the right to twitterpimp to a wide audience - anything else is spam.
So - my two cents worth - the only way to truly exploit the power of social networking is to not exploit it, but be a full participant in it - and what you give, you will truly get back and then some.
AndrewBoyd is a consultant by day and blogger by night. He loves good food, good wine, and discussing faceted classification schemes with friends.
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I’m fascinated to know where you’ll go with some of the later letters in the alphabet - Q and X particularly come to mind.
I agree wholeheartedly !! Nothing more to add to Andrew’s eloquent blog cos he said it all
Hi Ian,
thanks for that. I am fascinated also - we’ll see if it gets that far
Cheers, Andrew
Hi Caronne,
thank you
The cheque is in the mail 
Best regards, Andrew
Q for “quality” I guess is the obvious one.
Not sure about X. “X rated” - and your advice will be to spice up our blogs with porn to get more traffic.
Hi Ian,
thank you for your suggestions - X could be about porn, for sure, or it could be for the X factor - that indefinable thing that sets some bloggers apart from the crowd.
Q could be for Quality, or Quality vs Quantity - either way, it’s a post I look forward to writing
Best regards, Andrew
Wise words Andrew. When I started out I was all about the comment storm. Now I am all about writing for the people that take the time to visit my little corner of the internets or even go as far as subscribing.
Every single day it amazes me the wonderful people I have met via social networking. There are people that are there just for the hits on their blog, but you can see through them quickly. Twitter and Plurk have become much much more. The rec centre for the digital age.
Hi Kel,
thank you for the comment, and thank you for being one of the people I love to engage with via social networking. My life is better for knowing you.
I think that anyone who reduces people to “clicks” or “subscribers” has missed the point entirely.
Best regards, Andrew
So, I shouldn’t equate clicks and comments to ‘how many people love me’? *chuckle*
Seriously, I agree wholeheartedly. Good post! *applause*
Hi Naomi,
thank you for your comment.
I think that love is not about the quantity of readers, it is about the love you feel for however many readers you have. In that, I am happy
Best regards, Andrew
I guess that is the true meaning of blogging. It’s hard for me to consider people I meet online friends though. Maybe it’s just me.
hi Andrew,
I’m ready for “G” whenever you are
Have been visiting this blog every day for a few weeks now, and every day I ask, “is this the day another letter will appear?”
Looking forward to the next instalment
Anita
Hi Anita,
wow, thanks
OK, will extract the digit and get it done
Best regards, Andrew
Andrew I have this used bridge.. do you want to buy it..
On a serious note of course there is a massive limit to the number of social networks you can interact with all the time on a consist basis to build the interactive rep you are talking about.
Hi Gary,
thanks for the comment.
I would say that there is a massive limit to the number of social networks that any one blogger can participate in without being a prize fake - the people that only plurk/twitter/whatever when they have a new post shit me, and I know they shit a lot of other people too. We are not eyeballs, we are human beings, and we are here to add OUR value, not their value
Cheers, Andrew
Very wise words Prof. Have you shared this with Laurel?
Hi Colin,
thank you for your comment.
I will drop her an email - she’s probably seen a dozen posts just like this one, but you never know
Cheers, Andrew
Heh - how about I take a contrary view?
Blogging is about the Content. We go off, write our blog posts in isolation, and then submit them to the world as a finished product - uneditable by the audience, who can only comment and question at the end. A bit like an old fashioned lecture. A blogger pushes out content and the audience applauds or boos. Not really collaborative is it? Not a wiki for example, or a chat channel. Nor is it about the audience - we, the blogger, set the topic to be discussed and the tone we expect it to be discussed in. Building an audience is a challenge -a blog is not a social network, even with distributed conversations (which is our attempt to deal with the poor conversation tools blogs give us).
By the way, that is why I don’t think Twitter is a microblog - it has none of the one-to-many, locked content, distribution issues that a blog has. Plus its pretty close to synchronous communication.
Discussions on how to build an audience are important - because blogs are so content focussed and not distribution focussed. Except for RSS feeds (which are still pull, not push) you can’t build a network with a blog. You have to join distribution networks like Twitter and Facebook and MyBlog whatevs to tell the world you have blogged.
So, nah, Blogs (video, photo, sound/podcast, text, powerpoint) are about Content, not People. Have a look at http://flickr.com/photos/silkcharm/2700455334/ Social Media Portal (Flickr) and you’ll see why.
But Facebook, Twitter and many-to-many channels are about People - use both.
Hi Laurel,
thank you for your considered comment.
I probably have to disagree - content is important, but without audience it is just a bunch of words.
Setting the tone, now - the article was actually about the “legitimate” social networks that bloggers use, rather than trying to sell blogs as social networks. Please note the commas - “Social networking is, like blogging, about the people.”.
The blog post becomes a catalyst and a summary for the conversations on Plurk and Twitter - most of the people that commented above came to this post direct from Plurk. Kelley (of magnetoboldtoo.com) has a tighter integration between Plurk and her blog than I do - she is a bioblogger, talks about her life in her blog with most of the in-between conversation taking place in Plurk and Twitter.
So… bloggers do use social networks, but (most) blogs are not social networks/communities in and of themselves. The likes of boing boing, akihibara news, and ozbargain.com.au are probably the exceptions.
The main point of the above, and apologies for making this clear, is that bloggers have a social responsibility to contribute to the social networks that they are part of, not “exploit” them. My take on “don’t be evil” for social-network-using bloggers.
Cheers, Andrew
Yeah I was just being obnoxious.
And even I have been known to tweetspam my own blog posts
It’s really tricky to get readers discussing a blog post amongst themselves in comments - most comment once then disappear. Thats hardly C2C
Social spam - either deliberate or simply breaking (un)written social network behavioural rules is going to be a growing problem. Eventually bloggers with an overdeveloped sense of ego will risk ALL if they over-promote. Have a look at http://flickr.com/photos/silkcharm/2681008129/in/photostream/ - managing online social reputation through content and activity in social networks.
…. betcha don’t invite me to comment again *cries* Heh.
Hi Laurel,
of course I will invite you to comment again - you are always welcome
I’ve had my share of “comment once then disappear” - but also a lot of long-time readers (read “friend”) who would probably read whatever I right because they are interested in what I have to say rather than the topic itself - a bit like sticking whatever I come home from school with on the fridge, no matter how frightful.
Social spam is certainly a problem - as is the friends of friends of friends phenomenon - please see http://youareshitting.me/2008/08/30/here-comes-every-bastard/ for one view.
Nice diagram at http://flickr.com/photos/silkcharm/2681008129/in/photostream/ - it is all about The Journey to Trust.
Comment any time!
Best regards, Andrew
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