Blog Post Number 500

What I have I learned by writing this blog?

This is the 500th post I've written since late 2006.  So, I thought I'd interview myself and see what I have to say.

Why did you start a blog?
At the time blogs were both a source and outlet of thinking ans analysis.  So, I thought I should share some of my thinking as well as interesting ideas.  At the time the posts weren't written around a single topic, but rather an anthology of topics.

How has the blog evolved?
Over time it tracks the discussions happening in the marketing world. For example, both social media and data-driven have been common themes.  More recently it has been more focused around the implications of such trends. 

From a communication point of view, Twitter and LinkedIn feeds are now much better sources for reference material.  As a result, I try to think more about what value I can add to the mix. 

Having a different point of view and an opinion seems to work best.  For instance, arguing that we need social media strategies because everyone is on Facebook is akin to arguing we need a billboard strategy because everyone drives.

What do you want a post to do?
Since there are a lot of detailed analyses, how-to, and news oriented sources I try to take a different approach and synthesize a variety of sources and roll them up into a conclusion or implication.    Since people are likely to scan web content, I try to make them succinct and pithy, often with a sense of humor.   

In the end, I simply hope they stimulate thought and more conversation.  One of the most circulated was entitled 'leveraging communities of interest' which looked at common interests as the new demographics.

What is the benefit of blogging?
For me it started as a personal project and it remains so today.  But I'll admit it, while I like the retweets I really feel good when people say 'interesting take on...'

Now, back to figuring out marketing in the fluid fog - what we need to do when everything is interactive and people are the media.