Why blog, and why this blog?
On September 20th & 21st I attended a conference on Social Network Technologies, aka blogs, RSS, wikis, etc. The event was well attended, and had some blog “gurus” presenting (Stowe Boyd, Hugh McLeod). I came away from the conference enthused, and this blog is the result.
At Influencer50 we have noted the decline of traditional influencers such as industry analysts and journalists, and the rise of other influencers, such as blogs (this was the subject of my conference talk).
The primary reason for this blog on Influencer Marketing is to debate how the influence of blogs works. A few things seemed to be apparent at first blush:
- Bloggers are not separate from other influencers – it’s often the same people expressing themselves through a new medium. Bloggers can either be existing influencers using blogs, or new influencers, influential because of their blogs. In the future will all influencers be bloggers?
- The influence of blogs is in part related to the number of links, but also to the credibility and authority of the blogger. Blogging increases market reach and frequency of impact for influencers, but not quality of impact or closeness to an end-user decision. Blogging may increase some elements of influence, but not all.
- Identity of a blogger is critical to its authenticity, and therefore its influence. Anonymous blogs beg the question, what is the blogger trying to hide?
What I’m also interested in is the relative influence of blogs. It’s stated widely that only 10% of those that read blogs ever post comments. If 90% of people that read blogs don’t comment, presumably they are communicating through other media. So, which ones?
Anyway, let the thought process begin…
At Influencer50 we have noted the decline of traditional influencers such as industry analysts and journalists, and the rise of other influencers, such as blogs (this was the subject of my conference talk).
The primary reason for this blog on Influencer Marketing is to debate how the influence of blogs works. A few things seemed to be apparent at first blush:
- Bloggers are not separate from other influencers – it’s often the same people expressing themselves through a new medium. Bloggers can either be existing influencers using blogs, or new influencers, influential because of their blogs. In the future will all influencers be bloggers?
- The influence of blogs is in part related to the number of links, but also to the credibility and authority of the blogger. Blogging increases market reach and frequency of impact for influencers, but not quality of impact or closeness to an end-user decision. Blogging may increase some elements of influence, but not all.
- Identity of a blogger is critical to its authenticity, and therefore its influence. Anonymous blogs beg the question, what is the blogger trying to hide?
What I’m also interested in is the relative influence of blogs. It’s stated widely that only 10% of those that read blogs ever post comments. If 90% of people that read blogs don’t comment, presumably they are communicating through other media. So, which ones?
Anyway, let the thought process begin…
Labels: influencer marketing, influencers
posted by Duncan Brown at 2:43 pm
1 Comments:
Thanks for the comment, Abelone. I think my point is that people communincate with each other, and it isn't always through blogs. Research from Northeastern University shows that 77% of dialogue takes place face-to-face. Only 6% is on-line.
So lurkers are only lurking on-line - they are active off-line.
My premise is that blogs' influence extends beyond the on-line medium, but interacts with other communications types.
Measuring this is the hard part...
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