There’s an interesting thing happening online at the minute – people are beginning to see through crap and filter out inane. Long-term fans and advocates of bloggers and social media “leaders” are looking at them and realizing that maybe they don’t have much to offer after all.

What’s even more interesting is not that this is happening, but that it’s being made clear on why it’s happening by the very people who might have otherwise been quiet and submissive until now.

Big name bloggers are seeing comments left on their blog’s, decrying the blatant self-promotion angle that’s taken over what used to be informative reading. Readers are questioning the value of a blog if there’s nothing but other writers on it, and not the blog’s owner.

Of course, does this really matter? After all, if a blog has subsciber numbers in the high thousands, who cares if you lose a reader here or there?

It’s a fair point. But the bigger question to ask might be this: if the sheep (and I say that out of respect and not as a generalization – sheep being loyal but quiet readers) are beginning to question you, and call you out, what do you think the more vocal and free-thinking web users are saying about you?

And how do you think this affects your business opportunities? To come back to the self-promoting blogger angle, the constant referencing to in-house products and offers changes in perception. Instead of seeming successful, the blogger (and their relevant companies) come across as not having had much uptake, and now that the sheep are thinking for themselves, we better try and make some money while we still can.

Of course, this is just an observation. Besides, sheep are good – the numbers must mean you’re doing something right. Right?

Maybe. Maybe not. But while your flock is questioning your leadership, they’re also looking to other bloggers who actually are providing A-list content all the time.

Folks like Nancy Davis, who’s writing some of the most personal and human relationship posts on the web today. Or Marcus Sheridan, who’s writing the kind of content marketing stuff that Junta42 used to be known for. Or Geoff Livingston, where every single post makes your brain razzle with the solid and real business content that Forbes should have, but don’t. Or Jk Allen, who uses his inimitable hustling style to give you some of the best entrepreneur information you’ll ever read.

And guess what? These guys, and others like them, have businesses. The kind that your business looks to win. So while you might be happy with the “loyal” silent readers boosting your traffic and AdAge rank, will they pay the bills when a business is looking at a blog and reaching out to the author for projects based on the content?

The mundane A-lister is dead. Long live the new real.

image: infamecless

When Sheep Tell the Shepherd to Flock Off originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

This is a guest post by Ari Herzog.

I confess guilt.

When I recently shared how to write a blog post, I specified the noun, “post.”

That was wrong of me. I should have echoed Phil Gerbyshak and specified the noun, “article,” as in, how to write a blog article.

Are we ignoramuses for interchanging the verbs used for publishing blog articles with the nouns used for the articles themselves?

I don’t think this is about semantics.

The blog, according to Wikipedia, is an ongoing diary or commentary and each entry is popularly called a “blog post.”

Why is each entry, this entry, any entry called a blog post?

Use the word as a verb and it makes sense, as in Danny posted his thoughts about elephants, but use the verb as a noun and you need a new verb. You can’t have it both ways. I suggest the term is overused and should be stricken from our lexicons. Interchange “posted” with “published” if you insist, but substitute “post” with “article” for the thing being distributed.

More to the point, if a blog is indeed a serial publication and qualifies for an International Standard Serial Number, then why not use the same terminology as other publications? Does the New York Times or Le Monde say they just posted something, or they wrote a news post? Of course not. Why should bloggers be different?

Let’s treat a blog as a part of media. Who agrees?

Thanks to Venson Kuchipudi for photographing the elephant.

Ari Herzog is a policy and communications specialist south of the border. He works dually as a new media consultant for public organizations and as an elected councilman. To learn more about him, check out his blog at ariherzog.com or follow him on Twitter at @ariherzog.

Why We Bloggers Are Ignorant originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

While you might come here to read about social media; or marketing; or strategy; or statistics;  it’s always nice to step back and read blogs from outside the business and social media circle.

So, over on my Facebook page last night, I asked for recommendations of blogs that weren’t business, to see what inspired others when they read. And boy, did the recommendations fly in! So, without further ado, here are 21 non-business blogs you could add to your reader today, with added reasons from the folks that recommended them.

• The Mad to Live. Recommended by Mark Harai, for its “fun, smart and inspiring” posts.

• Enjoying the Small Things. Recommended by Amy Fandrei, who said, “One of the more down-to-earth but inspiring bloggers out there.”

• The Sales Lion. Recommended by Mark Harai, for being “inspiring and entertaining.”

• Murrmurrs. Recommended by Samantha Collier, because it is “absolutely, positively the funniest blog I have ever read.”

• The Skool of Life. Recommended by Mark Harai (the guy’s on a roll!), it’s full of posts that “throw down inspiring words.”

• Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. Recommended by Tressa Robbins, for “taking me out of my element and putting me in hers.”

• When Parents Text. Recommended by Sue Anne Reed, for “comic relief.”

• C Jane, Enjoy It. Another recommendation from Sue Anne Reed, for the simple fact of “enjoyability”.

• Smitten Kitchen. Recommended by Patricia Grow because “the recipes are always great, her photography matches and she shares the cutest pictures of her baby.”

• Life, For Instance. Recommended by Bryan Cromlish, this blog is full of “pretty inspirational posts.”

• Post Secret. Recommended by Geoff Livingston, for “making my jaw drop every week.”

• NYC Bloggers. Recommended by Elaine-Cosme Petersen for news on “entertainment, life, situations, shock treatment… whatever you’re in the mood for.”

• The Middle Finger Project. Recommended by Ingrid Abboud for its “powerful and inspiring stories.”

• Redhead Writing. Another recommendation by Ingrid Abboud, this blog is “funny as hell” (and also full of awesome cuss words)!

• Xbox 360 Fanboy. Recommended by Brandon Forder, because he’s “a video game nerd and proud of it.”

• Blog-Blond. Recommended by Chris Benedict Valencia, for its ability to “be funny and relieve stressful days.”

• Flight to Success. Recommended by Karla Antelli, for “inspiration.”

• The Bold Soul. Recommended by Janis La Couvee for, amongst many reasons, having a “zest for life and inspiring me.”

• Some Words, Written by Me. Recommended by Eileen Marable for being “good, thoughtful fun.”

• Delco Forever. Also recommended by Eileen Marable, for offering “great thoughts by smart people.”

• The Bloggess. Recommended by Jennifer Linnell Fong, because it “makes me snort out loud with laughter regularly” (and is another blog that uses cussing perfectly).

So there you have it. If you’re needing new blogs to read, or just want to mix up your business needs with some cool, funny and inspirational reading, there are some great starting points for you here.

My sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to reply (and some couldn’t make it here, since there were no URL’s to grab) – it’s readers like you that help bloggers like the ones you recommended get a new audience. And that’s always a good thing.

How about you – what non-business blogs would you recommend, and why?

Leave your recommendations in the comments (with links), and let’s see some new names we may not have known about.

Note – because of the anti-spam filter that I use, comments with several links may not appear immediately. Don’t worry – I’ll approve them as soon as I can, so no need to post a duplicate, just in case you thought yours hadn’t gone through!

image: -Rejik

21 Non-Business Blogs You Could Read Today originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

I had a few emails (and 14 unsubscriptions) after this blog post I wrote yesterday. The emails I received expressed the sender’s dislike of the post, saying that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all. I’m guessing the unsubscribes shared that view.

That’s fair enough. Opinion pieces often do that – some will agree, some will disagree, and some won’t care either way. And that’s all good, and how it should be – it’d be a pretty boring world if we all agreed on the same topics.

Whether the post was enough to make folks unsubscribe because of it, I don’t know. Personally, I think I’ve written far “worse” and much more opinionated posts here, but that’s by the by. Like I say, the choice is yours – I’m not forcing you to do anything, nor would I want to.

But it led me to thinking what this blog is about, and what type of readers it has. And that in turn led me to thinking of reasons why you wouldn’t like this blog, if you were a new visitor today.

So here’s the quick 15-second elevator pitch on why you won’t like this blog.

• It’s often blunt and, while respecting reputations, isn’t afraid to challenge people and practices.
• It’s not just about social media, but how that fits into the bigger picture.
• There are sometimes cuss words.
• It won’t tell you how to raise whatever influence score system you’d like to game.

I’m sure there are many more reasons not to like this blog (and feel free to drop them into the comments!), but these are the ones that I’ve had most feedback on over time.

If any of these aren’t your cup of tea, I fully understand you not visiting again – there are plenty of blogs out there that will meet your needs on any or all of the above.

If, however, you like honesty and an open approach to everything – where your voice is just as key as mine – then thanks for continuing to be here, and let’s keep challenging the way we think.

Cheers!

image: waferbaby

Why You Won’t Like This Blog originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

So I’m currently fighting a virus at the minute that’s left me pretty zonked out and listless. I’ve had signs of it all week, but this morning it hit me hard.

So, while I’m “absent”, so to speak, why not check out some posts you may have missed? You can find them here.

Or, introduce yourself to the bloggers that sit on my reading list. You never know what gold you might find.

Cheers, and see you soon.

Of Bugs and Beds originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Two different blog posts – Arik’s (as the title suggests) is about blog comments, while Gini’s is about platforms like Foursquare and Gowalla and acts as a rebuttal to a recent Forrester report.

Yet despite being different, they’re both very much tied together by one defining factor – blog comments.

You see, what both blog posts confirmed is something I believe in wholeheartedly – it’s not the blog that offers the most bang for your buck, but the comments that follow once published.

Digital Gold

While a blog starts any conversation, that’s all a good blog should be – a conversation starter.

Think about it – why do you blog (either personally or as a business)? To extend your brand? To promote products and news? To increase your search rankings? All of the above? None? Some? Others?

It doesn’t really matter, since all you’re doing is opening up a conversation.

• Customer to sales.
• Potential client to marketing.
• Job-seeker to new employer.
• Website to Google’s algorithms.

All these and more are simply conversations between two entities – the blog and whatever shape the audience takes.

So if you’re opening up a conversation to connect to your audience, then there’s only one place that happens – the comments section. And that part of your blog is where the digital gold is melted into shape.

Look Beyond the Blogger

One of the things I hear a lot when speaking to new clients about their existing social strategies is the advice to “read bloggers X, Y and Z to learn about your business.”

Good points. Bloggers X, Y and Z are writing some great stuff and there’s no doubt there are useful nuggets to take away.

But the real juice? That’s not necessarily from the bloggers, who often stop at the crucial point of ideas without offering real-world ideas or examples to let you take away and put into action. Maybe that’s just for paying clients…

Which is why I always advise to go beyond the blogger and read more into the comments if you want to find the real gold.

Take Gini’s post about geo-location marketing, for example. She makes some excellent points on why Forrester are off the mark with their report, and uses figures and ideas to show why. But Gini is a marketer – that’s her job (and one that she’s damn good at).

But in the comments, there are even more ideas that show businesses what their customers want. If I’m a marketing or promotions manager at Starbucks, for example, I’d be looking at Rob Reed’s comment and putting that on the agenda at my next brainstorming meeting.

Who knows, I might just find that Rob’s suggestion saves me thousands in focus groups but makes me millions in sales.

That’s just one example – considering there are at least 133 million blogs in the world, think how many other examples there could be.

Content is the Apperitif

What both Arik and Gini’s posts show – and many others like them – is that content (while still great) is no longer the king.

Yes, it’s hugely important, and not only shows your thoughts on a topic, but your expertise to a potential client, employer or customer. And as a marketing platform for your business, a blog is hard to beat.

But the real meat is in the comments. That’s where the creativity can really be let loose, and ideas bounced off others and taken to new heights. There’s no limit to a comments section, but there is a finite amount to what makes a readable blog post.

So think of the blog as the apperitif. A great cocktail to ease you into the main course ahead – the comments.

If you’re a business, think of who you want to have a drink with (your customers), and then get out to the restaurant (blog) they frequent the most. And then listen to what they’re ordering.

Because order filling is what you’re good at, right?

photo credit: damo1977
photo credit: lusobrandane

Mining for Gold in Blog Comments originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

These are just personal takes, and will probably either see you agreeing or thinking I’ve lost the plot – and either one is fine by me! As with any list, this is subjective so please feel free to leave your own recommendations in the comments after the post.

First up, and in no particular order, is Blogs (this is different from Bloggers, which will follow later). I hope you enjoy.

1. FU Penguin. The “F” and “U” is exactly what you might think they stand for, and set the tone perfectly for the chortle-fest that is F*ck You Penguin. An irreverent take on cute animals, it rips them to shreds and questions their right to be cute in the first place. A favourite.
2. ReadWriteWeb. Providing analysis of web trends and products, ReadWriteWeb is a must-visit if you have any interest in how the web is growing and the direction it’s taking. It covers mobile, technology, business and social, and better still, its writers don’t fall victim to believing their own hype (unlike some at another popular blog that tags itself “the social media guide”).
3. PR Breakfast Club. A collective of very cool minds from the public relations field, PR Breakfast Club launched in the second half of 2009 and is already required reading for anyone interested in PR, branding and much more. Not afraid to call things as they are, this should be in your reader today.
4. AriWriter. Penned by Ari Herzog, AriWriter is a pretty neat collection of a wide variety of topics, although they’re all tied together by social media or strategy planning. While I don’t always agree with Ari’s point of view, there’s no doubting his passion for his topics and that’s always a plus. Besides, who wants to agree all the time?
5. Jackass Letters. Part spoof, part satire, part comedy, part criticism – Jackass Letters is a pretty cool collection of letters sent to various departments of businesses worldwide. Some are just crude, while others are hilarious beyond belief. If you ever need a reminder why business and service are fun, this blog is it.
6. The Customer Collective. While its parent site Social Media Today may be the flagship, The Customer Collective is actually my preferred destination. Geared more towards how sales and marketing professionals can communicate better with customers, it offers some great insights from a variety of contributors.
7. BlogEngage. More a blog recommendation engine than a dedicated blog, I’m still including BlogEngage as it shares so much good stuff. Think of Digg just for bloggers, and with less gaming of the votes by power users, and you’ll have a good idea of what BlogEngage is all about.
8. MA.TT. The personal blog of WordPress founding developer Matt Mullenweg, MA.TT is a nice collection of information about WordPress, not to mention Matt’s views on blogging in general, technology, start-ups and more. It’s a must-read for any blogger interested in the news around the medium.
9. Digital Next. Part of the AdAge family, Digital Next is a great collection of what people see as the future of the web and advertising. Geo-tagging marketing, augmented reality, real-time audience targeting – this is a great resource for future trends and possibilities.
10. io9. I’m a geek – I’ve never hid that fact and I’m pretty proud to say my sci-fi nerdiness has followed me into adult life, so io9 is perfect for me. Talking about sci-fi (and sci-fact that could be fiction and vice versa), it’s the ideal stopover for your inner geek.

So that’s the first part of Ten for 10 in 2010. As I mentioned in the intro, these are all places I feel you’d enjoy as new reading fodder next year. But, please feel free to leave your own recommendations in the comments.

Hope you join me tomorrow when I look at technology that should leave its mark next year.

photo credit: Dan Zen

Ten for 10 in 2010 – Blogs originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

I thought it might be interesting to swing that around a little. Put you in the place of the alien and offer you some of the blogs I read that I feel “lead” when it comes to not only social media, but pretty much anything. Just a way of sharing some blog love for people you might never come across otherwise, as well as the usual suspects.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

• Chris Brogan. Probably someone who’s on more people’s list of recommendations than anyone I know, but deservedly so. Offers fantastic insight into social media, as well as being a genuinely nice guy.
• Mighty Red Pen. I make this one of the very first blogs I visit each morning. An often hilarious look at examples of really bad grammar.
• PR-Squared. As a PR guy myself, perhaps I’m shooting myself in the foot by recommending a PR blog other than my own. But Shift Communication principal Todd Defren’s personal blog is always worth a read.
• Children. Outstanding and touching blog aimed at protecting the rights of children worldwide.
• Stuff White People Like. Some people have said that this blog is racist. Personally, I find it a pretty funny (and true) look at one particular part of the human race.
• Daily Blog Tips. Excellent reference site for bloggers of all expertise. Offers tips on promoting your blog, formatting, and the always fun Blogging Idol contest.

These are just some of the blogs I read on a regular basis that I think you’d like. I’ll be sure to share more in the near future. How about you – any blogs that you feel are worth reading?

• Footnote. The animal in the picture is a lemur. They are currently on the Endangered Species list. If you wish to help protect them, you can find more details at the World Animal Foundation.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and subscribe to my RSS feed or via email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).

Take Me To Your Leader originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

I read a lot of blogs – some by the biggest names in social media, some by the rising stars, and some that are just entertaining reads by people starting to find their feet in this whole social media world. Then there are the non-niche blogs that are worth anybody’s time.

What I like most about these blogs (and the others that are recommended to me by friends) is the openness and free-to-all approach that they offer the reader. There’s no hidden agenda here – simply the proponents of social media and those interested in it, sharing views along the way.

Recently though, I’ve been leaving many of these blogs with the feeling that the authors are beginning to believe a little bit too much in their own hype. Instead of sharing openly with their readers and asking for opinions on how they view social media, the authors are instead preaching how to approach the medium.

This would be okay if it was merely helpful advice from someone who’s been there and done that. Sadly, it’s becoming less so. Instead, we’re treated to people virtually attacking the medium that gave them such a popular voice to begin with.

Example – there’s a particularly well-known tech blogger that recently chastised other bloggers for not name-checking thousands of blogs a day, or for not using tools like Google Reader in their sidebar to let other bloggers know what they‘re currently reading. This irks me.

Not everyone is (or wants to be) a professional blogger. Many simply use the medium for sharing their innermost thoughts with a curious world. So what if someone doesn’t want to link to another blog, or website, just for the sake of linking? Does that make them any less of a person (or blogger)? Does it mean they don’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as this tech blogger that raised the point in the first place?

Of course not.

There are many ways that bloggers can show appreciation of the work of others without blatant shout-outs and name checks all the time. Blogrolls, or links, for example. Or using an application like CommentLuv, that shows the last blog post of anyone leaving a comment.

Blogging shouldn’t be a private playground where the ’privileged few’ set the rules. Nor should social media. Instead, both should be methods of bringing people together to ultimately make the world a friendlier and better place. Shouldn’t we try keep it that way, before the snobs ruin it for everyone?

Are We Turning into Social Media Snobs? originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.