Shel Holtz posted a plea to the blogosphere to Stop defining blogs:
"I’m getting tired of people insisting that blogs are one thing but definitely cannot be another."
Me too Shel.
There’s room for more than one approach. I think that to insist that there is only one right way is well, clueless.
I also take offense at the idea expressed by some bloggers that those of us who allow for more than one right way to blog, to engage, to go to market, should get off the Train. That we are wrong.
That attitude strikes me as simply replacing one bad model, the much maligned old-style corporate marketing fortress, with another equally intransigent one:
"You can see the politics of ‘being right’ throughout most organizations. People win arguments- and thus secure their position in the hierarchy- through the cutting remark, through megatonnage of evidence, through agreeing with industry consultants, and through the smug refusal to ever admit being wrong."
– from The Cluetrain Manifesto
Hmmm.
Hmmmmm is right. Does this mean that you are right in your views, and along with the evidence you present are winning the argument?
Personally – I agree with you but I think Cluetrain – while thought provoking – has more holes that swiss cheese.
We’ll always have to wade through those “experts” who profess to know more than they do. Experts are often recognized by the opinionated rules they impose on others.
Go forth – blog and prosper.
Bruce: thanks for stopping by. Of course, I think I am right, everyone thinks they have the right end of the stick. That’s why God is on both sides in a war 🙂 And I know I am never going to *win* the argument, I just can’t stop myself.
But since all I am saying is that there is more than one right way to do something, let the readers decide what they like, let the voices in the market be heard, I think my view is just a tad more open-minded.
For me, Cluetrain was a point of departure, to explore new ways of doing things, to open up new conversations. Not a step-by-step guide on the “right way.”
Dare I say it: blogging is a tool, not a religion 🙂
What works?
What gets your point across to the desired audience?
What gets you an audience and keeps it?
THAT is what is right, it would seem to me in this instance, and those who complain that popular blogs are doing it wrong are being silly. 😉