blog.ziffdavis.com/katt

I often read but rarely comment, but the subject of fictional blogs intrigues me…

A point I would like to make to any naysayers out there:
The world wide web became a great success NOT because of the great business opportunities out there, or all the research potential.
Teh Internet is a success because it entertains.
If you plan on doing business on the net, never, EVER forget that the biggest draw on the net is the entertainment value. If you are not entertained by a given type of website, ad or technique there may still be an appreciable market that is….
Ignore them at your peril.

Exactly. You prove the point.

Thanks for stopping by.

Susan

Preposterous!

And I have absolutely no clue if character blogs will succeed; as I said in my follow on post, I don’t want to do one myself. I too prefer live and “in person.” But I think we need to let it play out and not dismiss it *just* because it is fictional. Dismiss something because it doesn’t work, dismiss something because the audience doesn’t embrace it, dismiss it because the marketing results aren’t there. But not for the form of the thing before we even give it a chance.

There is room for many different approaches, so let’s just see what happens.

Regards,
Susan

As you say, if the fictitious character site is entertaining and draws readers, it’s serving its purpose. It’s when we start looking at the “genuineness and authenticity” that are cited as key differentiators between blogs and ads, that I get puzzled. Don’t get me wrong: we know that there are all kinds of ads that work. And I think blogs can work as ads, too. My point was that, in my mind, blogs-as-ads are different kinds of blogs, with the genuineness and authenticity differentiating them.

Of course the reader always decides. I’ll be very interested in seeing the long-term results for character blogs. I could be wrong, (for the first time this year!), and they could be very successful. I’m skeptical, but, hey, I don’t get people watching Regis, either.

By the way, czech out: When Blogs Are Fictitious Filings by Natasha Kohne
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1113555913116

{The National Law Journal}

There is never a single right answer to any conundrum.

Best regards
Susan

Bloggers: they’re into this “real conversation” stuff. “Consumers” (let’s keep using that term as much as we can; focus on consumption, after all) won’t care about this nonsense at all, all they want is to be entertained, after all.

This is just great:

The one caveat that sets blogging apart from other forms of advertising/marketing is that it does represent genuineness and authenticity. However, those philosophical cornerstones do not have to be circumvented just because the blogger is a character rather than a “real” person.

Let’s set up more fake genuine sites that represent authenticity!

Keep up the good work. Jolly good!!