- Engaging
- Accessible
- Useful
- Original
- Uses images effectively
- Thoughtful and thought-provoking
- Generous
- Focusing on what's important
- Positive
- Credible
- Just the right length
- Honest
In our CSC course we were asked to analyze some blogs based on Pollard's article. I am not going to do that because I don't really agree with Pollard. At least I don't agree with all 12 of his criteria. Instead of analyzing other blogs I will go through the criteria and provide my own view on this subject.
I agree with Pollard that blogs should be written in an easy to read and understandable manner (criteria 1 and 2). If a posting is difficult to read you will soon get bored and tired of it. The relevance of all the other criteria depend on the subject and content of the blog and their relevance is questionable. They are surely not the popularity formula for all blogs and mostly depend on the preferences of the reader.
There are plenty of good and popular blogs that do not contain a great deal of useful or practical information. This includes blogs that provide snippets of information for amusement or entertainment. Usefulness is in itself a good thing but not necessarily something that is vital for a blog to become popular. Blogs that provide analysis and opinions about theories and/or political views don't offer anything practical. For example Vabalog is a blog that is very thoughtful and thought-provoking but not necessarily practical.
Originality is a very good aspect in a blog but again many popular blogs are just collections of news and links to other sites with some short commentary or opinions. Take for example Gizmodo which is among the most popular blogs. Not much original content but very interesting and popular nonetheless.
I agree with Pollard that the effective use of pictures does add quality to a blog but if you use too many pictures or images that are not relevant to the subject it could disturb the reader. It's always nice to have some pictures but if the subject itself (e.g. political analysis) does not require any illustration then the use of no pictures at all could be concidered "effective use". It's sometimes better to leave out the picture if it's a generic image from the MS Office clip art collection.
Thoughtful and thought-provoking is a criteria I also agree with. Blogs should make you think about something. It doesn't have to be serious it can just be something funny but the more it makes you think the better.
According to Pollard the criterion Generous means "Respectful, giving, modest, no bullshit or condescension." This probably rules out many blogs which provide commentary in the form of jokes and/or satire. Why do we still have comic strips in newspapers (and online) that make fun of public figures and everyday life? Surely they would have been trashed and forgotten long ago if they were not popular.
Focusing on what's important is a good idea for bloggers who want to write news stories. In other cases I think that it's entirely up to the blogger to decide what is important and what is not. Pollard elaborates that the blog should "ask and answer the questions others are asking themselves." Who do you write for? Yourself or for others?
Another criteria that I don't take very seriously is that blogs should be "positive." There are so many subjects that are serious and not very "positive". Take for example the North Korea Zone blog which provides news and analysis of developments in North Korea. The posts are often scary and not very upbeat. Does this make the blog less popular? Maybe for Pollard but not for me. I don't want everything I read in a blog to make me "feel good, empowered" as Pollard puts it. Life is not positive all the time, there are ups and downs, strikes and gutters. That's what makes it interesting.
Just the right length is such a vague criteria that it could be applied to almost any posting depending on the content.
Credibility and honesty are important. Here I agree with Pollard 100% and I would like to see more blogs taking note of this.
All in all I think that Pollard's formula for "popularity" can only be applied to his own and other very similar blogs. In my opinion blogging is all about content and whether or not the writer knows what he is writing about. It's not necessarily about what kind of pictures you use, how long the posts are, how good you think they make others feel or how practical the subject. If you are passionate about what you write and you can express yourself fairly decently then you have the ingredients for a popular blog as long as there are other people out there who share the same interests.
1 comment:
It all depends...on who you want to reach, what your own interests are and how passionately you can write. Length of posts or the number of sentences in it doesn't matter all that much. For example the most popular and most linked to post for Vabalog is also the longest.
I'm not interested in popularity if it means hiding my own opinions and writing about things I could care less about. Sure, a juicy story on Britney Spears would draw quite few of the artists fans, but are these the readers I want to communicate with?
My focus on economics and innovation has made Vabalog a niche blog with a small readership, but I know for a fact that the blog is read (at least occasionally) by Estonian innovation researchers as well as policy makers in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. These are the people I want to reach and if there's only a handfull of them then so be it.
I'd rather take the 30 - 50 regular readers, who come back for more than try to satisfy thousands. My aim is not to satisfy but challenge and force people to think about some of the arguments they make and hidden side of the choices they make.
The problem with formulas that work is that soon enough everybody (and their sister!) is using the same formula and to be noticed you have to come up with something new and provocative. It should also be remembered that blogs are just tools that can serve different needs be it internal commnication within a firm or place to vent the angst filled musings of some teenager.
What Pollards suggestions comes down to is the basics of human communication: don't lie or cheat, keep it short and sweet, give credit where credit is due, and don't treat your readers like idiots.
It's common sense really.
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