Blogs need to be brief

Seth Godin runs an excellent blog about the current and future states of marketing, media and whatnot and he posted about blogs in general.

"Blogs are different than most other forms of media in one key respect: they stretch.

TV and radio confront the reality that there are only 24 hours in a day. They can't put on more content, because there's no down time.

Magazines and newspapers have to pay for paper, and that means ads, but there are only a finite number of people willing to pay. So the length finds a natural limit...RSS fatigue is already setting in. While multiple posts get you more traffic, they also make it easy to lose loyal readers...I think the answer is subtle and simple: over time, as blogs reach the mass market, the number of new readers coming in is going to go down, and the percentage of loyal readers will increase. The loyal readers are going to matter more.

Blogs with restraint, selectivity, cogency and brevity (okay, that's a long way of saying "making every word count") will use attention more efficiently and ought to win."

I agree with him that blogging, which is writing, should be to the point and not like textbooks which are full of twenty-five word sentences that can be said in ten words. A blog is an extension of a company, a school, a person's mind and a brand. Because of this, it should provide different details and insights about those publics; it should not repeat the same staid corporate mantra over and over again.

A good example of this extension is GM. They've had Corvette blogs written by Corvette engineers before but now they've launched a new blog, written by employees of all levels. The employees are contributing under Charlene Li's Blogging Policies:

Sample Corporate Blogging policy

Make it clear that the views expressed in the blog are yours alone and do not necessarily represent the views of your employer.

Respect the company’s confidentiality and proprietary information.

Ask your manager if you have any questions about what is appropriate to include in your blog.

Be respectful to the company, employees, customers, partners, and competitors.

Understand when the company asks that topics not be discussed for confidentiality or legal compliance reasons.

Ensure that your blogging activity does not interfere with your work commitments.

And now, TV Guide has unleashed sixty five blogs in to the world (from adrants).



May God save our souls.