Global PR Blog Week 1.0

Response to External Comments

I've got a mild rebuttal to Mr. Horton's blog

No Flamethower here!

I did want to respond to your blog post, but rest assured there is no intent to flame here. I can see where you're coming from, and your misgivings are certainly valid, I'm not sure it's as bad as you fear.

What I see happening is a lot of others just like me who are thrilled to be able to have a technology that allows us to do something we've either always done, but it makes it easier, or allows others to try something new. It's still writing, though, and writing anything on a sustained, regular basis is hard work. Not everyone is up to that; witness the number of abandoned blogs. People have the odd idea that somehow the technology is going to do the writing for them, and when they discover that's not the case, they go back to whatever they were doing before, after a day, a week or month of failed attempts to create the magic they were expecting.

I don't think there will ever be a situation where everybody's writing and nobody's reading. Even with all this technology, there is still a major percentage of people who just wouldn't consider writing anything for public consumption, ever. Even some published book authors are telling me, "Oh, I don't know what I would say!"

I've been hung out to dry myself on this next one: not everybody is a writer. I made that statement of perceived broad insult to the world in general only a couple of weeks ago on a discussion group for academics (the PhD kind) and you would've thought I said schools were obsolete. Sheesh! In the real world, this statement is actually true, and hardly anyone would dispute that. With a blog, you have the added necessity to promote the thing, if you want anybody to read it. Not everybody can or will do that, either.

There have always been weird perceptions of new technologies. I don't know how old you are, but I've known people who insisted on picking up the living room and dressing up before the TV was turned on. ;>) Not many people went to that extreme, but there was a persistent notion in the early days of TV that it was somehow two-way, and the people in the studio in New York could see the people at home in Scarsdale or Kalamazoo. My mother once told me that when I was a toddler I thought Arthur Godfrey was my dad. It took a while, but eventually I figured out that wasn't true, and I knew the difference between Daddy who came home at dinnertime and the picture on television during the day.

It won't take lawsuits or anything radical to convince the general public that blogs are simply a content management technology. People will discover it themselves. There are a lot of people who still think the simple act of having a website will bring them fame and fortune. You and I know it can't, but it takes time for the rest of the world to catch up. They will.

Of course I remember the Internet bubble and the gazillions of dollars floating around on thin air. This is not the same thing. Sure, some people may think it is, as happened last winter, when I had an e-mail from a lady asking me how she could promote her blog and get a book deal. Turned out that not only was there no book, this lady didn't fully understand she'd need to write one. She expected somehow having a book deal meant that a publisher recognized your life or your ideas were so wonderful and charming they would come and bring writing people, and the whole thing would be lovely, and she'd get to be on TV and make millions of dollars. Ah, yep.

The only thing I can't get my head around from your post is why you think all these bloggers need an editor. They're not all for general public consumption, if you didn't know that. (There is no insult intended here; I just figure maybe you don't have the whole picture yet.) Even on the professional level, who is to know if the editor knows any better than the writer?

For example, I just finished reading a hardcover book I checked out from my library. It was entitled, And That's the Way IT Will Be. Subtitled, News and Information in a Digital World. Publisher, New York University Press. The copyright date is 1998. I love reading these old computer books, because they're often unintentionally hilarious. I'm sure your local library has a good collection of these. The problem with this book was the fact that the editor was apparently sleeping on the job. Each page has one or more typographic errors, in addition to frequent grammar and spelling mistakes.

This is indicative of the quality of hard-copy books available today. It's one reason why I stopped buying books. There are very few books that have been produced with no errors, either hard-copy or e-published form. Making books right is their job; but they aren't doing it. Same applies to periodicals. If you have occasion to read a small local newspaper or weekly, they often look like the product of Mrs. Ardisana's Sixth Grade Class.

As a reader and customer, it looks to me that editors just don't. They may be filtering or something for tone, or accordance with the publications standards, but there isn't much I've seen in editing for quality. I can safely say I haven't seen one book that was published without errors of some kind in about ten years.

Even so, there have always been publications of dubious value, no matter the technology used to produce them. I think we're in a shakedown period, and those blogs of value to a number of people will succeed and be widely read. There will be some that have a small, highly focused audience. Some will be reserved for an audience of one or two, not intended for public viewing.

We can't presume any intention for all of the blogs; any more than we can presume the same intention for all of those who have cars. Some people will go to the beach; others will use the car to drive to work. The difference between cars and blogs is that we know what cars are capable of; we don't yet know that about blogs.

Author: Trudy W. Schuett | Jul 13, 04 | Permalink | 3 comments
Category: @ Trudy W. Schuett

 

 

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The Global PR Blog Week 1.0 is an online event that will engage PR, marketing and business bloggers from around the globe in a discussion about blogging and communications. The event is scheduled for July 12 - 16, 2004.

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