It's that age-old conundrum. Quality vs. quantity.

Mitch Joel got me thinking - not an unusual result after reading his stuff. On Twitter, he opined:

"I am disappointed that most of my favourite Blogs have become receptacles for Twitter feeds and del.icio.us links. Come on people... Blog!"

I've gotta say - he has a point. It seems that the pervasiveness of SocNets like Twitter and Facebook have resulted in the trailing off of blog posts, to a certain degree. I can't say that it's affected my own frequency (work is more responsible for that), but I can see the attraction of spitting out short bursts of information rather than longer more cerebral pieces.

It takes a certain concerted effort to put together a well thought-out post that hits a variety of buttons - topical, emotional, etc. And that's not always easy to do in our everything-now fast-paced lives. You'll note that a number of my posts lately have been heavy lifting - which is a plus, because it's brought many of you here.

Why Not Quality AND Quantity?
But at a certain point, I've got to mix quantity in with quality. But at the same time, I recognize that I can't go on for long with only one "real" post a week. So I'm taking Mitch up on his challenge and I will be hitting the blogging keys more frequently. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll do away with the del.icio.us links, though.

So I'll open it up to you. Do you find my del.icio.us bookmarks to be a reasonable complement to the other posts? Should I do away with them entirely? What value are you getting from my posts - the links or the longer pieces?

Labels: blogging, Mitch Joel, Twitter

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At 10/03/2007 1:32 PM,  Sarah Wurrey said...

My philosophy is that I can't force a blog post. I would rather only update a couple times a week with something useful or meaningful to say than force myself to write something every day and have it be kind of crappy and/or boring.

I think it's interesting that many of the blogs on the Power 150 are only updated one a week or less.

(By the way, nice to meet you this morning! I was going to DM you on twitter to say that but then I discovered you don't follow me! It's my breath, isn't it. Hee hee...)

 

At 10/03/2007 3:31 PM,  Bryan Person, Bryper.com said...

I have to admit that I skip right over people's del.icio.us links when those posts come up in Google Reader.

I was publishing mine for a while, and then stopped. I didn't think I was adding much value for my readers, and I especially didn't like that my posts with del.icio.us links or daily Twitter posts far outnumbered my "traditional" blog posts.

 

At 10/03/2007 9:30 PM,  Mitch Joel said...

Bottom line: I love twitter, del.icio.us, etc... I also really love reading someone's Blog.

Lately, I see new/unread items in Google Reader and it winds up being their links or twitter feeds.

That just upsets me :(

 

At 10/05/2007 12:57 AM,  Ann Handley said...

I also wonder if the "Twitter mentality" is affecting the way people read blogs, not just the way we write them (or don't write them, whatever the case may be...). I wonder if all this scanning and short bursts of information is making us too impatient online to read, well... even a BLOG post!

I've noticed a few times when stuff I've read or written doesn't seem to attract the thoughtful comments it once might have -- and I wonder if that's because we don't have the patience to read it through and think about it. Or maybe it's because we have too much other stuff to ingest (via Facebook, Twitter, whatever....)?

 

At 10/05/2007 2:22 AM,  Scott said...

Thank you for the comments, everyone.

Sarah, I think you're right - it has to flow naturally to be compelling.

Bryan, I think striking a balance is a good philosophy. I'll continue to hunt down good sites and post them to del.icio.us, but my philosophy is that if someone doesn't see my link cloud because they only read my content via RSS, I feel compelled to make that additional content available to them.

Mitch, I hear you. But when I'm behind on RSS reading, I feel less guilty about zapping del.icio.us feeds as "all read" than I do zapping content.

And Ann, I think you've nailed the larger sociological/psychological question. At what point is technology turning us into a society of lightweight thinkers and ADD sufferers?

In this knowledge economy, it's the strategic thinkers that are (or should be) highly sought after and rewarded. But if we don't curate the appetite of our audiences for such high-level thinking, it's a wasted effort. A little discipline goes a long way here, and personally, I know that I need to block out time to do more serious writing in addition to everything else.


I have to

 

At 10/05/2007 8:39 AM,  Ann Handley said...

"But if we don't curate the appetite of our audiences for such high-level thinking, it's a wasted effort. A little discipline goes a long way..."

I like this philosophy, Scott, because instead of just bitching about the fact that we have short attention spans (technology-inspired ADD?), you suggest some action to turn the tides.

This is what I love about good blogging. It furthers one's thinking.

 

At 10/08/2007 1:27 AM,  LaSandra Brill said...

I'm with Bryan, I skip right over the del.icio.us links.

I think it would be much more valuable if you shared your insights along with the link. Even if just a short post that summarizes the key points - at least that would save me time if I didn't want to read the linked article.

 

At 12/04/2007 10:30 PM,  Mark Goren said...

I get quite a bit out of the link posts, Scott (as we've discussed!) Links:

• Show your readers that you're paying attention

• Give your readers a chance to know you in a different way (personality, interests...)

• Allow you to provide quick, relevant commentary that allows you to tie your links post to your philosophy/way of thinking.

To me, this comes down to:

• Are you added value to your readers?

• If you (as a reader) don't like it, you can always skip 'em or unsubscribe.

I'm loving this discussion.

 

Quality or Quantity?

It's that age-old conundrum. Quality vs. quantity.

Mitch Joel got me thinking - not an unusual result after reading his stuff. On Twitter, he opined:

"I am disappointed that most of my favourite Blogs have become receptacles for Twitter feeds and del.icio.us links. Come on people... Blog!"

I've gotta say - he has a point. It seems that the pervasiveness of SocNets like Twitter and Facebook have resulted in the trailing off of blog posts, to a certain degree. I can't say that it's affected my own frequency (work is more responsible for that), but I can see the attraction of spitting out short bursts of information rather than longer more cerebral pieces.

It takes a certain concerted effort to put together a well thought-out post that hits a variety of buttons - topical, emotional, etc. And that's not always easy to do in our everything-now fast-paced lives. You'll note that a number of my posts lately have been heavy lifting - which is a plus, because it's brought many of you here.

Why Not Quality AND Quantity?
But at a certain point, I've got to mix quantity in with quality. But at the same time, I recognize that I can't go on for long with only one "real" post a week. So I'm taking Mitch up on his challenge and I will be hitting the blogging keys more frequently. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll do away with the del.icio.us links, though.

So I'll open it up to you. Do you find my del.icio.us bookmarks to be a reasonable complement to the other posts? Should I do away with them entirely? What value are you getting from my posts - the links or the longer pieces?

Labels: blogging, Mitch Joel, Twitter

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