Category: Technology Author : Steven Hodson Posted: January 17, 2009
Tags : A-List, social media, Twitter
A day or two ago I wrote a post here on The Inquisitr that called into question the sanity about relying too heavily on letting our workflow exist too much on the web. The idea being that between the slowly vanishing VC money to established giants in the industry; like Google, taking steps to solidify their base of web applications that can; or could, broaden their economic base. The idea came out of a post that I had read by Steve Rubel and I thought it had some valid points to make – so I wrote them.
I ended off the post with this
Personally I have been reluctant from the beginning to move my workflow to the web mainly because of things like this. One minute you might be using some service as part of your workflow and the next minute – Whoosh – it’s gone; usually with nothing more than a week or two notice on a blog somewhere that no-one probably reads. I may have gotten laughed at in the past whenever I questioned the long term viability of trusting our workflow to the web but over the next year I don’t think those people will be laughing quite as hard
Now the interesting thing was the amount – or should I say the lack of traction the post got. Other than a few comments on the post itself and a couple of FriendFeed it died the ignoble death it seems that my get in your face cranky type posts get. In other words it went nowhere as far as being a discussion starters. In contrast his original post that I extrapolated on saw a minimum of 45 comments.
Then today Mr. Rubel has another fine point except that for some reason it sounded a lot like what I had already written – at least in the subject idea or concept. That being the questionable reliance on established or new cloud based applications – gee it sounds similar. As Steve said in his post
This is exactly why I won’t invest time or energy in a lot cloud-based apps today like Remember the Milk or Evernote. Yes, both are awesome and they have income. Evernote got funded and has paying subscribers. Remember the Milk too charges for many of its best services (like its iPhone app). However, I suspect many stick with the free versions – especially nowadays. And that could be problematic in a year or two if things continue. The good news is that these sites make it easy to sync or export your data.
[…]
My advice to everyone is look for high ground. Think hard about where you store data that you care about. If you don’t care about the information, then you’re fine.
So to all you new bloggers and those working their way up the ranks the next time you think you have an original idea or thought don’t hesitate to write it down in a post because that is why you are in this profession after all. Just be realist to know that there is very little chance your probably very good post will see the same kind of traction as when someone like a Rubel, or a Scoble, or GigaOM writes up basically the same idea.
As much as the whole blogosphere likes to pat you on the back with sweet sounding platitudes the reality is that your post won’t even break the surface of the blogosphere that swoons around the big boys of the A-List.
Jan 17, 2009
So your thesis is that Mr. Rubel gets more traction because he's a bigger name…
I just checked his blog and he has 3 comments – 2 from Allen Stern and one reply from Steve Rubel. So while your topics were the same, it also appears the traction was the same.
Jan 17, 2009
please dont get me started on this – for the love of a plain bagel with a schmear, dont get me started on this.
Jan 17, 2009
I think this goes without saying. If you simply remain true to your efforts, and forgo setting expectations, it's all good. Just keep posting good content and/or insightful commentary. It is a very loud ecosystem and it takes time. Most seem to begin to squander what they have once they reach a certain point, which is my worst-case-scenario for Scoble's affiliate “strategy.”
Jan 17, 2009
I was thinking about getting more traction by signing my posts as “Steven Hodson.”
Seriously, I wonder if there truly are original thoughts from anyone out there. For example, I thought I was being all original and stuff when I talked about that #sponsored hashtag in response to your earlier post. Not only did I subsequently find that particular hashtag has been in use for several months, but that Mike Doeff had an idea for an even shorter marking for such items.
I figure that if I personally have a truly original thought that no one else would have conceived of, it would probably be so bizarre that people would run away screaming. By the way….oh, never mind.
Jan 17, 2009
give it a day or two .. I have found with Rubel's post that there can be a layover period of about 48 hrs before the comments really start to get made.
Jan 17, 2009
not sure how much traction you would get OE by using my name as a sig
Jan 18, 2009
Awww, nobody read your blog? How much a shame. Grow up, how much freaking time do you think people have anyway? Geez, after breathing, eating, pooping, showering and working, there ain't much time for Webbing. That is the fundamental flaw in the “let's do everything on the Web” thinking. WHO has the time to be pasted to some sort of screen all day just reading everything that some blogger thinks is gold? Get a life. Or turn into a Morlock.
Jan 18, 2009
You sound bitter.
I like it. It means I'm not the only one around here anymore…
–Kyle
Jan 18, 2009
Not bitter Kyle in the least .. just stating an obvious fact. Consider it a post letting the new bloggers coming up the line that to expect that what they have to say will reach any real large audience is pretty much a crap shoot and that there will be times when they find that ideas that have written about will be echoed by the more popular bloggers who will get real traction whereas the newbie blogger gets to keep on trying.
Jan 18, 2009
oh give it a rest will ya. Your comment makes you sound arsine. I don't think that what I write is the end all be all – far from it. I was just stating an observation .. nothing more .. nothing less. Now why don't you crawl back to your busy life – wouldn't want your boss to catch you reading some stupid ass blog post now would we.
Jan 18, 2009
I have seen this happen so many times with my own posts – but I have been making progress. I have had this conversation behind closed doors (email at least) and just keep on writing. I think eventually you will make progress and certainly have more traction than most of us. I have had posts that I felt were directly lifted which shows you ideas are usually thought of more than once. I use it as motivation.
As for traction, I try to get and receive guest blog posts to try to get a new audience.
Jan 19, 2009
You can make it happened! You're one great idea could make you well known. In fact you are now., many have been learning a lot from your post and they recognize that your ideas, opinions and advices are all great.