One of the more interesting things about blogging software is that it allows for instant publishing. Just a year ago or so, putting something out on the Web took at least a few minutes and required some moderately complex content-management software. Go back 10 years, and publishing required days, if not weeks, and you had to go through a person called a "publisher," who owned the equipment that printed content.
Now everything is so easy, so fast.
So you sort of have to wonder about those blogs that never seem to update.
The expophile blog, which covers trade shows, has an interesting post that points to one such offender. Take a look. Then check to see when was the last time your favorite blog was updated. For that matter, check to see when was the last time you updated your Web site.
(Note: Expophile posts anonymously. I'm not crazy about that in a medium that promotes conversation and transparency. I'm not a regular reader of Expophile, so it's possible that he/she has already given some compelling reason to hide -- perhaps a hostile boss. Regardless of that shortcoming, Expophile is worth looking at if you follow B2B trade shows. Although I think TSMI is a more interesting read.)
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines
You're cool. Will you come to my house once a week and kick my ass?
ReplyDeleteSeriously.
I'm such a sucker for someone who pushes someone else to write.
Hi Ted,
ReplyDeleteThanks for saying hello.
And thanks for sharing your name.
I too try to stay away from the idea of imposing rules on blogging. But I do have my preferences (for example, we both prefer that bloggers post fairly often.)
I'm a regular reader of a few anonymous blogs...but I like to see an explanation of why someone chooses to keep their name a secret. Because if blogging has a "rule," it's that we try to be transparent.
Thanks Paul, I love unsolicited testimonials. I owe you a beer. Especially as I hijack your blog for the next few moments ;0
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I guess I'm the "first person who asked" about the Expophile's identity, although apparently not politely enough. I didn't phrase my opinion in the form of a question.
To Ted's point, "rules" are by their very nature contentious. There are a lot of blogs out there that don't follow "rules" including many I subscribe to and read regularly with no trackback or comment mechanisms. A good example is that I don't know who writes MarketingVox. But in their case, I don't care. I know it's just a newsfeed with some basic analysis and they're not taking a position on anything. It's just reporting.
I do have some issues with how FuelDog (Expophile's parent) has been promoting blogs to trade show organizers. But those are just my opinions (although shared by most A-list bloggers). I still linked to FuelDog and included them in my blogroll. I might have linked to them more often had Ted "outed" himself sooner, but the anonymity was bugging me because I've been out there promoting transparency.
However, there's a bigger picture for the long term. Simply having Expophile out there allowed myself, them and others to start and have a discussion about what we think are workable models for show and conference blogs. And having the discussion at all is a big improvement over having our head in the sand and ignoring the potential of a new medium as our industry so often does. We are usually the latest of the late adopters.
As it stands today, we still don't have enough regular bloggers in the show & conference arena to field a baseball team. My wish is for more blogs in our field which would enable more discussion and more controversy.
Besides, sometimes it's just fun to make ripples. And it's even more fun to make waves.
I'll add that I've created a blog session that I'm moderating at our industry's top conference this December (IAEM). Brendan McSheffrey, one of FuelDog's senior partners, is on that panel, along with Toby Bloomberg and Kevin Holland.
Hi Rich,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and saying hello.
I'll look forward to reading about that IAEM session on your blog in December. And perhaps by then you'll get your wish, and there will loads more trade-show bloggers to share their thoughts too.