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(News Posts versus Thought Posts
September 27th, 2007 | Posted in Blogging |
You’ve probably heard the latest tech news:
- Google launched its presentations tool
- WordPress 2.3 was released, offering tagging
- Yahoo bought Zimbra for $350 million
- Adobe announced a tech comm suite of RH, FM, Capt., Flash, and Acrob.
- AuthorIt released a new version (not sure what it offers)
- The One Child Per Laptop (OCPL) program is underway
- The Tech Crunch conference announced tons of new products
- Sketchcast was released, and Ideablob, and Feedhub
- Movable Type 4.0 was released with some degree of open sourceness
- Microsoft is buying stake in Facebook
- Halo 3 was released
If you blink for a week, you miss a thousand developments. Despite all this news, which I glance at, sift through, or scroll down in my feedreader as I’m riding in a van at 5 a.m., I’m starting to look more for the non-newsy posts, the opinionated ones. We can only drink so much from the firehose of information before it turns us into information-downloading robots. We need analysts to opinionate. We need real people to emote, take sides. Blog posts that merely deliver facts, news, tips, or information bore me.
I’m not saying I don’t want tech news. Sure, but I saw about 6 separate posts announcing Google launched a presentation tool, and another half a dozen explaining that Adobe launched its technical communication suite. I prefer to read opinion. For example, Ann Gentle, who is a tech savvy writer/blogger, begins with the news, but then adds her own real thoughts about it.
Throwing out opinions can be dangerous. I’m always restraining myself. What if I make an opinion that offends, or that turns out to be wrong, or that makes me sound uninformed? And why throw out opinions without more research, evidence, and thought? It’s much easier to just deliver the news.
Still, the essence of blogging comes from journaling. Blogs are interesting because they express individual voices, individual opinions. Blogs should not merely be vehicles for the dissemination of news. We have dozens of tech news sites for that.
I find myself skimming posts until I find one with an authentic voice, where a person is trying to express a thought or feeling, like this one, rather than communicating news. We are drowning in news. We need more thought.
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Tags: blog content, voice
September 27th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Good post. Makes me want to get less timid about writing my opinions, but I know from past experience that flamers scare me.
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Very good post, and in line with your previous one about aggressiveness. I love blogs for the same reason many people love Jon Stewart’s Daily Show - we like the news presented with a slant from a person with integrity.
I defended blogging on a message forum yesterday. Someone said they’d rather get “knowledge” from a news site than opinion from a blog. I argued that knowledge was little more than memorization, while wisdom is what enables us to grant an opinion based on knowledge.
I suppose the summary is that a good blogger alludes to his wisdom with opinion, but still shares his knowledge in case the reader doesn’t care for that limited omniscient.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Aw shucks, thanks Tom for the link and compliment. I too like posts that give me a new angle or perspective or opinion, not just rote facts. It seems like blogging goes beyond journalism in that aspect. And I can completely appreciate the thoughts that Gordon McLean is trying to articulate.
I’ve got a draft post myself where I am trying to work out the differences between presenting information and offering expertise, and Brian, it’s completely similar to the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wow, it’s like we’re all thinking the same thoughts and blogs are helping us hone and refine.
Since writing for BMC, where I was often learning about BMC products and blogging about what I’d learned, I have always acknowledged that I am typically underinformed but I try to do my homework before posting, just to ensure I have facts to use to tell others what I’m learning.
October 4th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Wow! Terrific post. I try hard to provide analysis of events along with the actual raw data. Thanks for the post of encouragement regarding opinion.
I loved the part you wrote about …why throw out opinions without more research, evidence, and thought? It’s much easier to just deliver the news…
You’re exactly right; some posts can merely include a link to the source information, however I find that a bit dry also.
I think I have an answer why. Keying back to Cluetrain Manifesto, it’s more along the lines of us (the market) desiring a conversation with a company rather than having to wade through the marketing in order to derive the true content of what’s just occurred.
Blogging allows us to collaborate and become more informed through sources we learn to trust who have similar interest.
I think I’ll have to write this up as a post after all.
Thanks for the inspiration!
– Charles
October 5th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Off topic - I LOVE your updated WordPress theme!! Where’d your snazzy new logo come from?
The only thing I don’t like is the mouse cursor when you hover over a clickable link. It’s cool that it’s unique, but the common “pointing hand” cursor is synonymous with clicking a link.
More off topic - would one use the word “synonymous” to describe a mouse cursor? Iconymous, perhaps?
October 5th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Wow, you’re quick to notice the new theme. I just applied it a couple of hours ago. I don’t like the cross-hairs mouse cursor either, and I’m not sure why it’s doing that. I’m investigating reasons why. I felt it was time for a new look, especially with WordPress 2.3 out, which I’m going to write about shortly.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Found it — cursor:crosshair was an attribute in the stylesheet for the link styles.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Charles, thanks for your thoughts. I agree with you about the conversational aspect of blogging. I think that’s why I’m more interested in thoughts and analysis rather than just straight news. When we talk with friends, we almost always give our opinions (unsupported though they may be). Imagine a friend who just told you the news and nothing more. It would be odd.
October 9th, 2007 at 12:50 am
[...] Quoted from News Posts versus Thought Posts: [...]
October 12th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
As a journalist by education, I really enjoy the news aspect of publishing online. I like helping others stay up-to-date.
One of the most common questions that folks ask about my blog is how I find time to locate and write about all the things I do, and still find time to create original presentations, interviews and articles in the trade press. I’m not sure how I do it all — although it certainly involves dedication and hard work. And, lots of hours of reading. Then, writing.
I respect your desire to consume opinion (that’s why I watch Lou Dobbs each night and why I salivate every time I see James Carville taking down another right winger on the tube), but I don’t think bloggers have to detail their opinions to be valuable to me.
But, we’re all different. So, having both news and opinion blogs is a perfect solution. Read what you like, leave the rest for the next bloke.
Nice new look-and-feel, Tom. It’s clean and professional. Good job.
Scott Abel
TheContentWrangler.com
October 15th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Hi Scott, thanks for your thoughts. I don’t know how I find time to blog and podcast either, but I realized last month — after a 3 week non-blogging hiatus and a 3 month podcasting hiatus — that I engage in these activities because I enjoy them. They keep me engaged and interacting with others.
One of these days you’re going to slip into the Opinionator mode. But I still enjoy posts that are news (if the news is truly new). In fact, I think many people read your blog to stay current with what’s happening.
December 4th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]
May 12th, 2008 at 9:37 am
[...] Tom Johnson has commented that he finds blogs with a voice a valuable and authentic source of information. He especially likes it when bloggers share their opinions about the news of the day and why they think it’s important. It helps the reader gain a better understanding of the writer and their thought processes. Other writers I respect say they wish I’d reveal more about who I am and what makes me think the things that I do. With this post I hope to share more about me…to find the beginnings of my authentic voice. I hope this post serves to educate and inform, while also revealing a little about the man behind The Content Wrangler. [...]
July 15th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Hi webmaster!