Three years ago today, I posted the first article on this blog. It was a pretty simple piece – short, and more of an overview of what to expect in the days ahead.

Three years later, and it’s interesting to look back and see how I’ve changed in that time, both in style and in views on a variety of topics. While I’ve been blogging on and off since 1999, this blog is the one that I’ve made my own, if you like (with you guys playing a huge part, obviously).

So, if you’ll allow me, I’d like to take a little look back at some of the changes, and see how things have developed since that little post back on September 30, 2008.

It Takes Time to Find Who You Are

When I first started on here, I had a different “voice” than the one I have today. Okay – let me rephrase that; I was probably guilty of trying to please too many, as opposed to pleasing myself first.

I’d write some posts with nothing but traffic in mind, or the approval of certain folks in mind (although I wasn’t averse to calling out even back then!), when I should have been writing what was in my head instead. That’s not to say that I didn’t care about what was in the posts – far from it.

But, naively perhaps, these posts seemed to be going with the popular point of view, as opposed to having the balls to disagree with other stuff I was reading because it belonged to someone from the “in-crowd”.

My, how times have changed…

I’m not sure what the tipping point was. Heck, I’m not even sure there was a specific tipping point – perhaps I just got tired of reading lameness, or felt there had to be a better way. Either way, I’m a lot happier now than I was in my early days on here.

If there’s something I’ve learned from that time that I hope you can, it’s that it’s always – always – better to write for you first, and everyone else second. Be true to you, and you’ll be true to your readers.

People Come And Go And That’s Okay

As bloggers, we often put a lot of stock into numbers. Readers; visitors; subscribers; social shares; comments, etc. And there’s nothing wrong with that – after all, we all like to see that the blood, sweat and tears that goes into our blog is worth it, and social proof from numbers is a great way to see this.

Yet we can let these numbers become too important, and that can see us lose sight of who we are and what we want to say.

Instead of writing naturally – and being better bloggers because of it – we begin to look at subscriber counts, and fret when we lose readers. We wonder whether we should be writing differently, or going for list posts as opposed to thoughtful ones.

But we need to stop thinking this way – because at the end of the day, the numbers are meaningless if they’re false.

If you’re writing a post just to get X amount of retweets, or Facebook shares or whatever, you’re probably straying from why you wanted to blog in the first place.

Anyone can write for traffic – but writing for validity and genuine thought? That’s the gold right there.

Besides, there are a ton of reasons readers won’t like your blog – celebrate them, and allow that freedom to let you hang out with people that actually care and want to be with you, as opposed to those who’re just looking for the easy stuff.

It took me a while to realize it but damn, it’s liberating!

It All Comes Back to Being a Person

When I first started blogging many years ago, I wrote about anything and everything – technology, video games, favourite actresses, TV shows, and much, much more. There was no real rhyme or reason to my various blogging endeavours back then – just a desire to write.

One thing I do recall, though, is that because of that scattered approach, I never really let the topics get in the way of who I was – I simply wrote what I was feeling, and that was it.

Jump forward to September 2008, and perhaps the first 8-12 months of this blog, and for whatever reason, I seemed to get mired in the technology and platforms as opposed to what people could do behind them.

Ironic, really, given the goals that I laid out in my first post.

I’m not sure why this happened – perhaps I felt that was the approach I needed to take, or perhaps I was suckered into thinking that’s what people wanted to read (it’s what the most popular blogs were doing, after all).

But, as I’ve found out time and time again, and not just from blogging, people connect more with stories of real people, doing real things, with real results. And that’s what turns my blogging mind on, if you like – being genuine over generic, either from a writing or reading standpoint.

Simply put, being a human being and offering your frailties as well as your perfection (or perceived perfection, since no-one is perfect, not even Batman).

Everyone Has Different Favourites

Sometimes you write a post and you think, “Damn, I nailed that!” – and then no-one reads it! Or, if they do, they don’t let you know, since you don’t get any comments or your social shares are way below some of your other posts.

Again, it boils back to the numbers mindset and why we need to get out of that – because at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. What we might think is some of our best work can be seen as lame by everyone else, or vice versa.

And that’s natural – we all react to different things in different ways. We all have different emotional switches – and that’s okay. It’s what makes us an individual – and that carries across into blogging as well.

So, don’t worry if you feel some of your best work has been bypassed, or some of your favourite posts have disappeared with a whimper instead of a bang. As long as you’ve enjoyed writing it, and garner pleasure and satisfaction from it, that’s all that really matters at the end of the day. And there’s always tomorrow to start anew.

Besides, blog posts are evergreen by nature – there will always be someone that finds your masterpiece. And if it can touch just one single person and make their life better because of it, that’s a million times more satisfying than a thousand retweets or Facebook Likes.

Having said that, hehe… here are some of the posts I’ve been most proud of here, whether they’ve been read or not:

• The Kids Are Alright – because a community came together and made some very ill kids extremely happy. Thank you.
• You Don’t Have to Die to Live – because opening up about my suicide attempt helped others open up too.
• Pale Blue Dots – because it’s just a simple post with a simple message that seemed to connect.
• Response to Barbara Talisman – because it was an amazing show of how people can care about something they’re emotionally invested in.
• Virtual Stalking – because it encouraged people to speak up and take action.
• Could This Be Your Child? – because it made for uncomfortable reading on a rarely-discussed topic and a thoughtful discussion in the comments.
• A-Listers Behaving Badly – because this guest post was the most commented on here for a reason, and helped bring the protagonists together in agreement.

So there we have it – three years of change, evolution and learning.

It’s been a fun ride so far, and it wouldn’t have been anything like it has been without you. It doesn’t matter if you’re a one-time reader; an infrequent commenter; a long-time subscriber or otherwise – every word you read means the world to me, and I sincerely appreciate you coming here as opposed to anywhere else you could be at that given time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride so far, and here’s to many more together in the years to come.

Happy anniversary – thanks for allowing me to have it!

image: cso237
image: jimmedia
image: jasohill

Three Years and Counting at DannyBrown.me originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

How many times have you stumbled across a blog and felt that something is missing? They have great content. They even have a really cool photo to draw your eye in. The text is large enough to read easily. The blogger kindly responds to your comment, yet you never go back.

Why?

I hate to tell you this – you leave me cold. I read your post with excited eyes, but you don’t make me feel a thing. Challenge me. Make me think. Make me feel something. Even if I get angry, I will come back if you make your point well. If you change my mind about an issue, I will be a fan for life.

Writing with feeling can be a really tall order – do it right and you will have fans for life. Do it wrong and risk confusing your reader at best – or at worst pissing them off. It looks easy to write with feeling, but looks can be deceiving.

How do you blog with feeling?

My best blog posts have been written with tears in my eyes or my blood boiling. If I want someone to see what I see, I need to tell a story. A good post should tell a story, plain and simple. Tell me why I should care. Tell me why I should feel. Give me a good story and I will be hooked. A good post really is just a story, a very short story. I try to think about what the point of my post will be and write from that perspective.

Great storytellers can make you feel anything they want – they can make you laugh or cry, but most of all they make you relate.

Why are some posts universal? There are themes everyone relates to on one level or another. Everyone has had their heart broken at least once. Everyone feels fear, even if they hate to admit it. Those of us who are parents have had overwhelming feeling of love for our children that we know there is nothing we would not do for them.

That is how I do it. How do you blog with feeling?

About the author: Nancy Davis is a marketer from New Jersey. She’s also a mom who happens to write pretty well about life and people, and she loves to talk. You can read more from Nancy on her blog, or connect with her on Twitter at @NancyD68.

image: rjg329

Bloggers Do It With Feeling originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

So you’re bored with blogging. You have other things to do – like eat, sleep, go out, work. You know – boring “real life” stuff. Besides, thinking about it, blogging is for computer nerds and failed writers.

Not to worry – help is at hand. Here are 10 ways to kill your blog. Let’s begin.

1. Stop Writing

What? That’s too simple – of course your blog will die if you stop writing? Well, yes, if you stop writing altogether. But be smarter about it – change your writing habits. If you write daily, change to once a week (and vice versa). If you want to lose your readers, confuse them.

2. Be Obnoxious

People like to be respected – your readers are no different. So be obnoxious. This can take many shapes – talking down to them in comment replies (if you reply at all); using made-up words that make you sound wanky; and making them feel you’re a hundred times smarter than they are. Be mean – and keep those pesky readers away.

3. Close Your Comments

People like to be heard, and we especially like to be heard when we read something that either inspires or polarizes us. So take away that option from your blog, and make your site a talking head instead. Unless you’re Seth Godin or Leo Babauta, you’ll soon see your blog’s popularity shrink, wither and probably die.

4. Use Captchas

When I was younger, I used to love stuff like the Rubiks Cube and 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzles. Now, though, since time is a precious commodity, I like things to be simple and easy to do. So install a crazy ass captcha on your blog that no-one can decipher and make people pull their hair out from frustration – great way to scare readers away!

5. Limit the Options

When blog readers read a great post, very often they want to share it. Of course, if you’re trying to kill your blog then you don’t want that sucker shared a lot. So limit the amount of sharing options – instead of making it easy to share on whatever networks the reader wants to, limit it to Facebook and Twitter. After all, they’re the only real social networks that are important to bloggers. Right..?

6. Screw Formatting

Because blogs can be read on different browsers and computer screen resolutions/displays, there’s no real point in formatting your post – it’ll never look good on every reading option. Instead, bunch all your words into one long-ass paragraph; don’t use images; and make your font 9-pixel Copperplate. Job done.

7. Die, Navigation, Die

Think of the world’s biggest maze. Then think of the world’s biggest maze at night. Then think of you trying to navigate the world’s biggest maze, at night, in a blindfold. Now – make your blog’s navigation that much fun, and make it easy for your readers to get lost and not know how to get back home. Lost readers = frustration = see ya!

8. Search What Now?

If you really want to kill your blog quickly, you could even combine a couple of the ways here. For example, if you have crappy navigation, make sure you don’t have a Search Box to at least let your readers find what they’re after. Add in no Archive section and boom, you have one heck of a lost blog happening!

9. Subscribing is for Wimps

When you set a blog up, generally it’ll come with a standard RSS feed. Thing is, the standard RSS feed doesn’t always work on certain browsers, so using something like Feedburner or Feedblitz is better. But you don’t want better – so leave the standard feed and make sure you don’t have any subscribe options in your sidebar. If your readers can’t subscribe, they won’t know when you have a new post. Blog death on the horizon.

10. Repeat Yourself

We all run out of ideas, but often you can find things to blog about to share with your readers. But if you’re trying to lose readers and kill your blog, then you don’t want fresh ideas. Instead, copy a post from your Archives, change the minimum amount of words up, and you have a new-but-not post to pan off on your readers. Tip – don’t use a Related Posts option here, as you can get found out and look stupid.

As you can see, there are a bunch of ways to kill your blog, so you don’t need to worry about pleasing these damn readers of yours anymore.

Of course, if you actually want to have a blog worth visiting, and one that sees you respected and visited and recommended, then ignore all of the above and do the exact opposite.

Your choice.

image: shiner.clay

How to Kill Your Blog in 10 Easy Steps originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

This post is part of our free blog topics series over at For Bloggers By Bloggers.

For many bloggers, coming up with blog topics can be hard. Keeping your blog fresh and interesting for readers old and new can see you hitting the blog topics wall, and often that leads to you just not blogging at all.

So, in this weekly series every Saturday, we’ll provide you with 10 free blog topics to get your mind rejuvenated.

As well as offering you some blog topics ideas, we’ll also give a short paragraph on each topic to help you get off the starting blocks. Hopefully this will give you some more ideas, if the initial titles of the post topics themselves don’t.

So – on with the topics!

• How Music Helps Shape My Decisions. We all have our favourite songs, and can remember a time in our life based on a certain tune. But how did they help shape your life? Did a certain song give you the strength you needed at a certain time? Was there a song playing when you told your partner you loved them for the first time? Music is all-encompassing – share what your music taste means to you.

• If The Matrix Was Real. If you’ve seen The Matrix trilogy, you’ll be aware of the concept of humanity being the puppets of machines. But can that be correlated to your actual life? Who would the machines be – your boss, your partner, your bank manager? And how would you overthrow them? (Note – this should probably be written in a tongue-in-cheek manner!).

• The Best High School Date I Never Had. In high school, there’s always that one guy or gal that we had a huge crush on, but nothing ever came of it. So if you could go back in time and be guaranteed a date with that person, who would it be with and where would you go – and money’s no object?

• If This Was My Last Blog Post. At some point, we all die – it’s one of life’s absolutes. So, if you could write and schedule the last blog post you would ever write, what would it say, and what would be your parting message to your community?

• My All-Time Guest Blogger Line-Up. If you offer guest posts on your blog, and you could choose from your all-time favourite bloggers to line up for a week on your blog, who would the seven bloggers be, and what would you have them write about (even better if it’s outside their normal niche)?

• Lessons Learned From Being Fired. Have you ever been fired from a job? Not made redundant, but actually fired? If so, what lessons (if any) did you learn from that, and how have they helped you in your career or job decisions since then?

• Remember When? Life moves fast; changes happen all the time. So how about sharing the things that were a constant in your childhood, and why today’s equivalents are better or worse? Take a trip down memory lane, and see how many of your readers connect with their memories.

• What The Harry Potter Saga Can Teach Us About Branding. Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, with billions of dollars in book, movie and merchandise sales, the Harry Potter saga is a modern phenomenon. So what can businesses learn about branding and longevity from the simple words of an author?

• Knowing When To Stop. The original Star Wars trilogy remains a favourite to me, even though Return of the Jedi wasn’t that strong. And then George Lucas ruined the memories for me by first updating the trilogy, and then releasing the vapid new trilogy. So when should people stop? At what point does something not get any better? Share your take on your favourite author, movie, singer, etc, and where they should have stopped while they were ahead.

• The Best Invention No-One’s Invented Yet. There are innovations all around us, helping make our lives easier or better. But what invention hasn’t been created yet, and if money was no object, what would you invent that would change either your life, or the world around us?

Hope these help you get some ideas to start your creative juices flowing again – and feel free to share any posts you write from the above topics in the comments below, or linking back here.

A version of this post originally appeared on For Bloggers By Bloggers, our blog resource centre offering tips, tricks and advice to help make your blog the best it can be. Head on over and check us out, and make sure you subscribe to For Bloggers By Bloggers so you get each post as soon as it’s published.

image: kentbrew

10 Free Blog Topics to Help You Get Your Blog On originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Over at For Bloggers By Bloggers, I offered up a new list of free blog topics to help you with ideas for your blog. There are ten topics to choose from, and it’s something we offer up as a thank-you to the For Bloggers By Bloggers community.

One of the topics suggested is If This Was My Last Blog Post, and its premise is wondering what you would say, if you knew it would be the last post you ever write (if you were to die). A little morbid, maybe, but I’m curious about these kind of things.

So, putting my money where my mouth is, here’s what I would write.

We Waste Too Much Precious Time

We always think we’re too busy to do the things we should be doing. We hang out on social networks; we stay late at the office, doing that one last report; we leave our kids in front of the TV while we read the paper or catch up on emails; and more.

Ask yourself if you really need to be doing these things, or if they can wait. Ask yourself the last time you spent quality time with your loved ones; children; or even just you, away from all the noise and distractions. You might be surprised at how freeing and rewarding it can be.

Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes

As children, we’re unafraid to take risks. We see the world as one big adventure, and if we hurt ourselves along the way we simply shed some tears, get a kiss from our parent(s) and move on to the next adventure. It allows us to grow, because we know not to make the same mistake that hurt us in the first place.

Unfortunately, as adults, it seems like we’ve forgotten the art of learning from our mistakes. We stay with abusive partners; we accept shit from our boss instead of looking for a job where we’re valued; and we never take action on that one big idea we have, because everyone will think it’s stupid.

The thing is, though, we became the adults we are because we learned from our mistakes as children. And we turned out all right (mostly). There’s something to be said for that, no? Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – you’re only hurting yourselves if you do.

Thanks For All The Fish

Bloggers are a strange breed. We basically share our personal thoughts in public, looking for feedback and endorsement (or disagreement). It’s almost like reverse narcissism.

Yet from that weird approach, magical things happen. Communities are built; friendships are grown; mindsets are changed. And sometimes, just sometimes, movements are created from the springboard that a single blog post can create.

I’m incredibly biased, but I see you as one of the best communities on the web. You’ve never been afraid to challenge, whether that be my thoughts or that of other guest writers or commenters. You’ve discussed topics with respect for each other, and helped me grow as a person. Say what you want about online relationships, but you’re all as real and valued as anyone I know offline.

Thank you for being with me while I was on this little blogging journey. It would have been boring as hell without you, and maybe we can continue our conversations on the other side. Underworld+, anyone?

Takeaways and Wishful Thinking

I hope I’ve kept you entertained on this journey. I know I’ll miss everyone I’ve formed bonds and connections with, and I’ll be a little sad for not having the chance to meet more people I would probably be inspired by.

But I can’t complain. I’ve met wonderful people; experienced wonderful events; saw history being changed; and wouldn’t change a single thing. We spend too much time wishing things were different; but sometimes we just need to see the great things we already have because things aren’t different.

If there are any takeaways that I hope I can depart with, it’s that maybe, just maybe, this blog helped you realize you don’t need to be anyone else; that it’s okay to question popular opinion; and that having belief in your convictions is never out of fashion. And maybe gave you the odd bit of business advice along the way…

Take care, guys, and thanks for the memories!

———————–

So, there you have it. My last blog post. I deliberately left out personal words to my family and loved ones, as that would be something just for them. This post – and the premise behind the topic – is for your swan song to your readers.

So – what would you say? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Or, if you’re feeling really inspired, write your own post and either share it in the comments, or link back to the For Bloggers By Bloggers post so others can read too.

Look forward to being inspired.

image: gwilmore

If This Was My Last Blog Post originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

This is a guest post by Michael Schechter.

I’m noticing a pattern lately:  the moment that a blogger starts to monetize his or her site can usually be tracked back to moment the content begins to suck. The minute that optimization becomes the priority, creation tends to quickly take a backseat. It’s not a perfect theory, but it is quickly becoming a common one.

Now, I’m fairly new at this whole blogging thing, but I have a pretty clear call to action on my site: I want you to read the crap I wrote on the page, with the desired reaction being that you derive value from said crap. If you really found it useful, who knows, maybe you’ll even comment. Apparently, this is wrong and I just don’t get how things work.

Apparently, I need you to engage, to end on a question no matter how obvious and patronizing it is. I need an offer to get you to sign up for my email newsletter, to get you to trade your first born for an ebook. I need to coerce you to come back, because apparently compelling you just isn’t going to be good enough.

I don’t want you to get me wrong; I’m not against making money. I love money… a lot! Hell, I may even throw in an affiliate link or ten on my site.  What I am against is those making money at the expense of their audience. I’m against those who care more about you clicking a link than reading the words on the page. In other words, I’m naive, and that is just fine with me.

It’s been sad to watch once-great bloggers leveraging past trust in exchange for future dollars. We used to get your A-game for free, but now you expect us to pay for a subscription to your 8th website (you know, the super secret one where you really put all of the “good stuff” now) for the watered down version. Worse yet, we fall for it every time. Even those of us who should know better (Read: Me). We want to believe, badly, that the trust we once put in you is still worth it today.

I don’t see things changing any time soon, so for now, the best advice I can offer is the same steps that I am trying to adhere to myself:  unceremoniously unsubscribe your attention from anyone who is working harder on selling you than teaching you. Take that time and start writing about something you care about. Pour yourself into it, even when no one is reading.  If and when people do start reading the crap you put on the page, don’t ever take that for granted.

So am I alone, or do you see what I’m seeing out there? Damn, there I go with the patronizing question and I didn’t even monetize…

About the author: Michael Schechter is the Digital Marketing Director for Honora Pearls, a company specializing in freshwater pearl jewelry. He writes about all things digital over at his blog, and you can connect with him on Twitter at @MSchechter. He also knows his way around a fine single malt scotch.

image: The Sun and Doves

The Weird Thing I Want You To Do On My Blog originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

When you start blogging, you usually do it for one of two reasons – you have something to say and want to share it, or you read other blogs and enjoy how they can be used for growing a brand; a business; a mindset; and more.

Often these two criss-cross with each other. Other times they’ll work alongside other goals – to sell products and services; to act as a lead generation platform for your business; or to be a place where your “business voice” can be relaxed, and you can be just another person.

Because of this, blogging is one of the longest-running and most popular forms of social media (regardless of what the Twitter and Facebook faithful would have you believe).

Of course, the problem with any form of popularity is that it can often be connected to banality and sameness.

Longevity and The Power of Oomph

When I first started blogging – oooh, many years ago – the landscape was very different.

Bloggers were viewed as quirks of nature, and/or frustrated writers. Yet some of the best writing around was being published, since the attention span didn’t have to be geared towards 140-characters or compete with a thousand social networks. Because of this longer attention span, the quality over quantity issue was never in doubt.

Now, though, as many bloggers look to grab book deals and be seen as the go-to-guy for sponsored posts and brand advertisements, a lot of blogs have become part of the sameness malaise. Honest viewpoints are being diluted and replaced by points of view that are geared towards satisfying the masses, as opposed to being a strong opinion that cuts through hype and spin.

Bloggers that were very different ten, five and even just one year ago are now rehashing the thoughts of others, or offering lazy posts knowing that the title and pop culture content will attract the social shares that makes the blogger seem important.

Plus ça change.

Newness and Introspect

Thankfully, there are some great voices around that are countering this blandness.

Folks like Geoff Livingston, Olivier Blanchard, Dan Perez, Gini Dietrich, Marcus Sheridan, Ingrid Abboud, Joey Strawn, Dino Dogan, Jk Allen, Mark Harai and Srinivas Rao are writing some of the best blog posts on the web today. And there are many more like them.

They write from the heart, and they write non-fluff viewpoints that can often make you feel both uncomfortable and wanting to shout a “Hell yeah!” in equal measure. And to me, that’s what great blogging is all about.

It’s bloggers like the ones mentioned above, and those who I’ve watched turn from great to good to meh, that’s made me think about this blog in the last few weeks.

While a large part of this blog is steeped in social media and how it can be used in the bigger picture (personally or from a business point of view), at heart I’m a storyteller (or at least that’s my goal). I like the human angles of social media, and how it can play a big part in shaping people’s lives. It’s one of the reasons behind the tagline of the blog.

But, to a degree, there’s only so much you can say about social media before it just blends into all the other social media blogs that are out there. Some are good; others, not so much.

And, while it might be nice to have tens of thousands of subscribers – and it’d be fairly easy to attain this with popular and continuous Top 10 or List posts – that’s never been a goal here. I’d rather have the involved community that’s here as opposed to ten times the subscribers but a less questioning community.

So. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing a lot of thinking about how this blog continues. Like I say, I’m big on human stories and storytelling in general (something that an imminent ebook will probably show). Social media is just one part of how people use the web – and I’m more interested in the people than the tools.

I thank you for being with me so far; and here’s to you still being interested enough to continue as I look to really define this blog’s position. Here’s to moving forward.

image: juco

The Mind-Numbing Banality of Sameness originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

My belief – and something we instill into any clients that have a blogger or social media outreach program in place – is that you need to offer full disclosure whenever necessary.

Professional relationships, sponsorships, financial or physical gifts, etc – basically, if you or someone you represent benefits from your blog post, you need to disclose that relationship.

Yet just as important as disclosure – and, perhaps even more so, depending on the circumstances – is the topic of disclaimers, and when you need to have that on your blog (or other social interactions).

What You Advise Isn’t Always What You Know

A good example of the need for a disclaimer is over at a post by Julien Smith, entitled How to Lose 20+ lbs in January 2011. In the post, Julien talks about  a diet regime that’s worked for him and some friends he’s helped lose weight (Chris Brogan is one of these friends that Julien is helping to lose weight).

As part of the diet, Julien recommends some of the following:

• Cut out sugar and flour from your diet.
• Intermittent fasting (in the post, Julien advises that he’s been fasting for 16 hours a day for the last three weeks).
• Read books and educate yourself on fitness and health.

It’s advice that’s clearly worked for Julien, and is (probably) working for his friends. And that’s great. Yet the post also has some issues, and ones that should have been addressed in it.

The Problem with One Size Fits All

While it’s great that the diet and its tough-looking regime work for Julien, the post implies that the same advice will work for everyone. The first words to the post are, “This is probably the only diet post you will ever need.”

Further in, the post also makes the request to, “tweet this out and subscribe to the blog below with your email address.” This is to ensure that people who “need this kind of information, but… don’t know where to get it” can get the latest health tips direct from Julien (at least that’s what I take from that request).

It’s these words, along with the premise of a health post that doesn’t segregate its audience, that need a disclaimer (at the time of writing this post, there isn’t one) – because Julien is not a nutritionist or a physician. Julien’s reply to one of his commenters that questions his diet is a little bit worrying: “A degree does not make anyone right, nor does a lack of one make one wrong.”

Except in medical science, where a degree would be pretty important to show you know what you’re doing when dealing with someone’s life, no? And this is where a disclaimer is needed (and not just Julien’s post, but any like it).

Liability versus Responsibility

Say someone follows Julien’s advice. And say they have a reaction; or become ill; or collapse through hunger while fasting. Say they feel faint at the wheel of a car, and cause a crash.

“But I thought I’d be okay – I was following the advice of a blogger who the diet worked for.”

Okay, that’s maybe a little blase, but you get the drift. At no point in the post does Julien mention he’s not a dietician. Nor does he advise you to consult your own dietician or physician first. Nor that women have different needs than men, and children are different again. Age is also bypassed.

If there had been a disclaimer in the post advising this, then it’s making sure that you take precautions when starting the regime in question.

Because there isn’t one, Julien could potentially be liable for a lawsuit, particularly if someone has a serious reaction or something else, based on following the post’s advice. And it’s something many bloggers fail to take into account when writing.

I don’t know Julien, but he seems a good guy and not one to offer false advice randomly.

Yet – like any blogger – he has a responsibility to not only his blog’s community, but the fly-by first time visitor as well. Yes, we need to take personal responsibility too, and that can’t be discounted. But often we get into a relationship of trust with the blogs we read (especially one written by the co-author of Trust Agents), so we trust their words.

The problem is, the law doesn’t always take blind trust into the equation where liability is concerned…

image: whatnot

Why a Blog Disclaimer Is Just as Important as a Disclosure Message originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

… And in with the new, as the saying goes. Seems kinda apt for some of the changes coming this way in 2011, at least as far as this blog is concerned.

In the next few days, I’ll be putting the new design live on here. Built from the core WordPress platform, it’s the first time I haven’t used any premium theme framework and instead gone for a custom design. The makeover is being handled by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics in L.A., and having seen what she’s done in the development area, I’m really excited to unleash it, so to speak.

The new design is just part of the makeover, though.

A couple of months ago, I launched For Bloggers By Bloggers as part of Bonsai Interactive Marketing’s online projects. The aim – to (hopefully) offer some of the best blogging tips around for bloggers of all shapes and sizes. Since launch, the site has continued to grow – from subscribers to unique visitors and Alexa ranking. That’s in no small part to the awesome bloggers that have been kind enough to join me and make up our core author team.

Because of the focus of For Bloggers By Bloggers, it means that any blogging-related posts will be appearing on there from now on. I’ll still cross-post the odd one or two here, but For Bloggers By Bloggers will see them first. If you’re interested in learning more about growing your blog and everything around it, feel free to check us out.

There are some more collaborative projects on the way from Bonsai Interactive, one of which we’re really excited to bring you, especially with the people that we have involved in it. My business partner Troy Claus will be heading this project up, and we’re looking to launch it in early 2011 – if you’re a small business owner, it promises to be something you’ll definitely want to keep your eyes open for.

As for this blog, I’ll be concentrating more on you – your use of social media, how you can use it in your marketing, your customer service, your employee culture and more. But at the same time, it won’t use the term “social media” all that much – it’s simply a toolset and/or mindset, depending on your take, and as such we’ll talk about the tools and the mindset needed around them. Think organizational development and you’ll get the idea.

Then there’s also a little thing called 12for12k relaunching and producing a global charity event for the latter half of next year…

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog so far. It’s been a great experience getting to know you and reading your viewpoints in the comments. You’ve made me think about some of my points of view, and how we can all work together to both ask and answer questions.

I hope you’ll continue to do so in 2011, and feel free to use the subscribe options in the right sidebar to keep up-to-date with everything that’s happening next year and beyond.

Cheers!

Out With the Old… originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Sometimes, through anger, we see our own frailties. Or maybe not frailties – but definitely nuances that could be shared better.

The last few days has taught me that, as I’ve been pretty angry on this blog. Although, to be honest, I don’t see it as much anger as it is passion.

I’m passionate about how business should be run; how people should be treated; how ideas should be received. But that passion can sometimes blinker my view, and that can then be mistaken (rightly or wrongly) for anger.

But… passion and anger can tread a very fine line with each other, and that then leads to possibly hurting others. Which goes against everything I believe in to start with.

Today, a couple of posts made me realize that my passion may have overstepped the line and molded into anger instead.

Critic or Caustic

Someone I admire a lot is Jennifer Fong, and she posted her take on my recent post about bloggers not being able to stand the heat. In Jen’s post, she recalls the sage words that if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all.

While I might not agree with that completely – sometimes we have to say things that won’t be liked – Jen makes a great point about how these things could be said. Part of Jen’s post that stood out to me was this statement:

I think we sometimes forget that whether you’re an A-lister or a D-lister, we’re all still people. People with feelings.

If I’ve written something that resulted in someone like Jen writing something like that, that makes me stop and think on how I’ve portrayed something.

The other post was from Chris Brogan, who responded to some criticism he’s had in the last few days (one of which came from my blogger and heat post). Chris makes some valid points about criticism, and why some matters and some doesn’t. But what stood out for me from Chris’s post was this comment from his wife, Kat:

In the end guys, it’s just a job. We all go home at the end of the day. We hold our kids and/or our partner and smile and relax. It reminds us why we work hard and why it matters.

There’s more to Kat’s comment, but that part stopped me dead. Because I’m a father, and a husband, and it made me remember a simple thing.

Everyone is Someone’s Child

Or father. Or husband. Or wife, or daughter, or son. And sometimes we forget that. When we criticize, we forget that it’s not just the person we’re criticizing, but everyone around them.

Sure, a blogger has their community to rally around them when the shit hits the fan, and that’s great – that’s what a great blog should have. That tells you you’re doing it right.

But behind the scenes, a wife or a little kid is watching their loved one take heat. It may well be justified heat, but how it’s given can mean the difference between, “Oh, another one of your readers complaining – ah well” to actually upsetting the people behind the blogger. And that’s wrong.

So.

Like I say. I’m a passionate person, and I can’t – won’t – change that. It’s how I was brought up, and it’s how I (mostly) am away from here. If I see something – or someone – I disagree with, I’ll continue to offer an opposing view, and the reasons why. Any other approach would be cheating both myself and you.

But how I share my opposition?

I’ll be remembering that everyone is someone’s child. And I’ll be trying not to upset the parent from now on. If I slip up, feel free to be the first to remind me of this post.

Sound fair?

image: paloetic

Everyone Is Someone’s Child originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.