It’s Bad to Force Blogging
In a post about a corporate Blog Council, Jeff Jarvis shares some excellent thoughts about the importance of not forcing blogging by sharing a conversation he had with a woman who has what sounds like the blog blahs.
"To her, the blog was a thing, a beast that needed to be fed, a never-ending sheet of blank paper. I turned to her and said she should see past the blog. It’s not a show with a rundown that, without feeding, turns into dead air. Indeed, if you look at it that way, you’ll probably write crappy blog posts. I’ve said before that if I think I need to write a post just because I haven’t written one, I inevitably come out with something forced and bad. Instead, I blog when I find something interesting that I’ve seen and I think, ‘I have to tell my friends about that.’ You’re the friends. So yes, I said, it’s just a conversation. And reading — hearing what others are saying — is every bit as important as writing."
Jarvis goes on to talk about the importance of conversation as an aspect of blogging and how many corporations seem to lack that in the blogs they write. He’s not talking about a conversational tone. He’s talking about corporate bloggers reading what others are writing, encouraging the participation of their readers, and responding to those things, as well as doing whatever it is they hoped to do with a blog.
