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10 Things Your Blogger Won’t Tell You
By JLP | February 13, 2007
There’s an interesting piece in the March 2007 issue of Smart Money titled “10 Things Your Blogger Won’t Tell You” (no link yet, I’ll link to the article as soon as it is available). Rather than espousing the good things about blogging, the article’s author is pretty harsh. I don’t have a link to the actual piece yet, but here’s his list of 10 Things Your Blogger Won’t Tell You (along with my comments):
1. “Hardly anybody reads me.” – So what?
2. “The more companies pay me, the more I like their stuff.” – Not here, they don’t. If something on my blog is an advertisement, I’ll tell you.
3. “Did I mention I’m not a real reporter?” – I thought this one was kind of funny because he mentions the fact that blogs aren’t subject to “prepublication safeguards” like editing, fact-checking, and proofreading. I think even newpapers have problems with this. Anyone remember Jayson Blair, the New York Times columnist who was fired for making up stories? How long did it take them to figure him out? So much for “fact-checking.”
4. “I might infect your computer.” – I suppose this is always a real possibility to anyone on the internet.
5. “I’m revealing company secrets.” – Not me, but I could see how this could be a problem.
6. “Just because my name’s on it doesn’t mean I wrote it.” – I write EVERYTHING here UNLESS I tell you otherwise.
7. “My blog is just a stepping stone to bigger and better things.” – I don’t understand what’s wrong with this?
8. “I can control what you see on the internet.” – Yep, it’s true. That’s what makes blogging so powerful.
9. “Blogging just about ruined my life.” – I’m sure for some people, blogging could pose a threat (particularly those who are looking for jobs). If you have a blog and you are looking for a job, BE CAREFUL! Everything you write is basically public record.
10. “I’m already obsolete.” – Say what? I don’t see the blogging platform going anywhere anytime soon. Sure, bloggers will come and go, but the platform will always remain.
This guy’s article seems pretty petty if you ask me. Tell me which magazine can I read that will explain to me how dollar-cost averaging works, or explain the time-value of money, or show readers how to figure out their net worth, or many of the other things that a blog can do? Yes, there’s a lot of blogs out there that are nothing but crap. Hopefully, the general public can spot them.
I’ll post a link to the article once it’s published. It’s an interesting read even though I don’t agree with the author on a lot of these points.
Topics: Blogging | 14 Comments »
February 13th, 2007 at 2:18 am
what!? everything I’ve read on the net so far may be a lie? tell me it isn’t so.
now I don’t know what to believe in anymore. sniff.
the article sounds like its heavily biased but I guess thats the point. still, some of the stuff is a bit of a head scratcher. like #7 and #10
February 13th, 2007 at 3:18 am
the guy’s just a troll, living under a bridge, in denial about the expressway that is stealing all of his traffic.
February 13th, 2007 at 4:40 am
That’s a joke of a list. Nice commentary. My favorite was, “So what?”
February 13th, 2007 at 6:49 am
Well, I suppose there is a very slight point to be made that a slick looking blog could trick a gullible type into thinking that some hack is an expert-but then again, that same gullible type is probably buying penny stocks that arrive in his/her inbox in mass mailings, so what are you going to do?
All of the points do seem to fall under “caveat empor” (or however you spell it). Know who you are reading before you take their word as gospel. The people that folks seem to trust the most are the ones who take pains to point out that they aren’t experts and that what they are pointing out can either a) be verified somewhere else or b) is an opinion.
As for #10-I would say that a blog is far less obsolete than the printed word in that your audience can read it mere minutes after it is posted, the info is as fresh as possible!
Oh well. I guess he is part of the “We fear change” camp.
February 13th, 2007 at 6:59 am
I agree with all your comments. I’m a little addicted to blogging right now: research, stats, writing, commenting. But it’s helping me and hopefully helping others in some way.
I have had to delete whole articles I’m developing because I realize I don’t know all that I should about a topic, so I don’t want to confuse or mislead readers. Also, sometimes I’m just not pleased with what I write so I hold off on publishing some things until I improve them.
I do see blogs where the writer forgoes all punctuation, grammar and spelling rules, only ever rants, doesn’t fact-check, yet still calls themselves a personal finance blog. Perhaps the author of the Smart Money article only visits those sites?
February 13th, 2007 at 9:17 am
I wrote a “10 Things” article for SmartMoney when I worked there; they draw more reader mail (mostly hate mail) than the rest of the magazine combined. This month’s article could be a sneaky PR move, though…my guess is bloggers will be writing a lot about SmartMoney this month!
February 13th, 2007 at 9:27 am
His list is biased because he is a ‘professional’ writer. Whatever. That’s what disclaimers are for. I write to be entertaining. If it’s a stepping stone to something else, fine. Just look at bloggers like WendyKnits and Yarn Harlot who ended up with book deals because of the large following their blogs have.
Mainstream media is struggling because they can’t absorb the Long Tail into their cookie cutter categories so they put out stupid lists like this. Long live blogging!
(Qualifier: I’d be suspicious of a PFblog that DOESN’T say they are for entertainment purpose, go see a professional advisor, etc.)
February 13th, 2007 at 10:01 am
I’ve read the article in Smart Money. As I read it I couldn’t help think that the article was trying to dissuade readers from joining the throngs of bloggers as a kind of survival effort. Here’s my take on the 10 points as seen as a rivalry between blogs and hard-copy magazines. The magazine could be Smart Money or Money or Forbes or any financial/investment type magazine. I’ll just refer to them as The Mags.
1. “Hardly anybody reads me.” – The more time people spend reading blogs, the less time and money they’ll spend reading The Mags.
2. “The more companies pay me, the more I like their stuff.” – This is especially true for The Mags. All the articles one reads in hard-copy are always so full of praise for the product. If one really wants to find some factual critical analysis of a product, one must search the web.
3. “Did I mention I’m not a real reporter?” – That’s similar to saying a political activist is not a real politician. That’s not a bad thing at all.
4. “I might infect your computer.” – I see this as trying to strike fear in the heart of the reader. That’s really code for “stay away from the free stuff and buy me.”
5. “I’m revealing company secrets.” – There’s one thing for sure, The Mags don’t do this. How many articles must we read each year about where the “money geniuses” are putting their money now? All these articles are the same: touting tired, sick companies who at one point had a good run. If these people were really investing most of their money in these companies, they’d all be bankrupt. The Mags never talk of GOOG, or ICE, or EBAY until their runs are at lest 70% completed. It’s only the message boards which have evolved into blogs where this info is available. It’s just not an easy quest to find it there either.
6. “Just because my name’s on it doesn’t mean I wrote it.” – Most of The Mags articles are the same old thing regurgitated time and time again. How is this different?
7. “My blog is just a stepping stone to bigger and better things.” – Are there reporters for The Mags that don’t feel exactly the same?
8. “I can control what you see on the internet.” – As a reader, I can’t control what articles are written in The Mags either. I miss this point completely.
9. “Blogging just about ruined my life.” – Everyone is responsible for their actions. If one writes stupid things, one should expect to reap the consequences.
10. “I’m already obsolete.” – Blogging probably will evolve along the way. One thing that’s for sure: as the internet, with message boards and blogs, evolve, it’s probably going to make The Mags a thing of the past. Or are we already there?
February 13th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Thanks for the heads up, enjoyed your commentary
I will look for the link to the full article.
On first thought though, it seems like the author might have got up one fine day and thought “Thanks to all the bloggers, I could be obsolete soon” and lashed out! Are the professional writers really so insecure? Don’t they get it – we are not here to take away their jobs… this is just a hobby for us and we are just having some fun! Relax, already!
On second thought, as David said, this could well be a sneaky PR move!
February 13th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I love articals like that. It’s the writen equivlent of putting your fingers in your ears and going “LA LA LA, I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” At the top of your lungs.
February 13th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Wow, I’m reading #9 and thinking it might be the exact opposite for a lot of people. Actually I think it’s been more of a positive in more peoples’ lives than a negative. Some people make livings off of blogging, but for others it enhances their life. Check out No Credit Needed (http://www.ncnblog.com). It helped him get out of debt and now he’s started a weightloss blog that is helping him reach another goal.
I think blogging is a tool, like a hammer. You could use it to build a house or you can hit someone on the back of the head (a la Maxwell’s Silver Hammer). The platform itself is not responsible, but the people behind the platform. And most people are building houses if you get my analogy.
I can’t believe that he brought in the “infecting your computer” into the discussion. Any website could in theory infect your computer. Does that mean you shouldn’t go to any of them? Of course not. It’s like saying that you shouldn’t drive a car because you might get a car accident. Blogs very, very rarely have anything that could infect your computer. You can take steps to secure your computer almost 100% from infection, making it not an issue.
February 13th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
I read blogs like yours because I trust the information on them more than your average magazine and especially newspaper. I got a kick reading “Did I mention I’m not a real reporter?”. That’s precisely why I read blogs. At least with blogs, you know where the author stands. Reporters lie to readers by trying to convince readers they are accurate and objective when they rarely are.
February 13th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
What a dip. (And that’s on the record.)
Some of us bloggers actually did get journalism degrees, though.
February 14th, 2007 at 12:30 am
Ooooh. Not a very fair article, in my mind. This was not a very well researched article because it seems to have generalized the blogosphere and simplified what blogging is all about. Many a blogger does a much better job than your typical journalist.