Recently, I have found myself at a bit of an impasse with this blog. It is not because I haven't wanted to write, although time (or lack of it) has been an issue. It is more that I am feeling slightly disillusioned because I am aware that I am quite regularly stuck in the proverbial echo chamber with my subject matter. If I am finding some of it a bit tired, then I can only imagine what all of you, with 100 other blogs subscribed to talking about similar things, are feeling.
What is the echo chamber?
Essentially, it is the phenomenon whereby bloggers blog about the same topics, feeding off other bloggers and essentially talking to even more bloggers who will write about the same topics...
Strangely enough, even this post is a bit echoey...
Problogger on Echo Chambers
Bloggers For Hire on Echo Chambers
Jeremy Zawodny on Echo Chambers
Doctor Vee on Echo Chambers
Chris Pirillo on Echo Chambers
...and so on...
But what to do about it?
Blogging, due to its simplicity and accessibility, was always going to become something of a 'me too' exercise. Some industries are worse than others of course (if you ever stumble across a How to make money online blog, you will see very quickly what I mean). And because social media, online reputation management, SEO and various other tech fields all tend to rely on blogging, we do all find ourselves covering the same things.
Which is why I have been a bit quiet recently...because I am trying to figure out a way to do something different. The last thing I want to do is write another "10 Ways to..." list or "The top 7..." list, like everyone else does. Yes, they work (sadly enough), but they are so overused. I don't want to keep rehashing information that I have found on the top blogs. And Techmeme is fascinating, but there is no way on this earth I am going to be the first person to see something new...
Taking stock
Sometimes, it is worth going back to basics. And the first question to ask is...
Who am I writing this blog for?
And
What is it that is going to help them which they may not be able to get anywhere else?
These are much tougher questions than they may appear, particularly the second one. But before you sit down to write another article, have the answers to these questions ready and test your article against them. It may require a bit of market research, or a bit of time spent chatting with your readers to find out. It may require a bit of trial and error - making mistakes is part of it. But if you feel that your blog is simply echoing what everyone else in your industry is doing, then to avoid becoming a bit more noisy in the already deafening cacophony of information, step back and find out just who it is you want to be talking to.
I couldn't finish without a bit of a list...
These are the possibilities I have been contemplating. Any others would be gratefully received.
- Changing the blog format - so rather than random(ish) posts 3 times a week, or a 5 post series, try something from the offline world. A magazine format, a newspaper format, or perhaps model it around a television program
- Older news - go back over things that happened a year ago or longer and see how that has affected what is happening today. Historians do it all the time.
- Spend a bit of time with personal observation or essays on general (as opposed to specific) trends.
- Spend more time with latest news which is related but slightly outside of the industry.
I am still contemplating these, but watch for a few experiments over the next few weeks. Like everything, blogging needs to evolve. And it is pretty tough to evolve if you keep running with the crowds.
Thank you to kjd for the image
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