Comments on: Dissecting Robert Scoble (2)

By: Cornelius

Cornelius — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 08:43:11 +0000

He’s just an example. This isn’t about him – at least not for me.

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 01:17:15 +0000

Choose your “experts” carefully.

By: Cornelius

Cornelius — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 22:55:24 +0000

Agreed, but it’s hard to tell where that value comes from, right? Much of the information on blogs is taken from other sources, so technically I could get it myself given enough time and effort.
Of course with an insider like Scoble there’s the hope of getting “the inside scoop”, information that only someone inside the company has. Or, I assume that his evaluation of the things he talks about – his opinion, really – is valuable because he’s an expert. It’s probably all of these things, with the “identifiable voice” as a sort of candy wrapper. You want what’s inside but the packaging is what you see first.

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 22:25:32 +0000

Cornelius, your main point is still dead on… a blog needs an identifiable voice that is a real person (or persons).

But the value to the reader has simply got to be there, because ultimately no one cares until you give them a really good reason to.

By: Cornelius

Cornelius — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:20:11 +0000

Oh, and of course you’re perfectly right about the early adopter audience he has. Different crowd means different rules.

By: Cornelius

Cornelius — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:18:48 +0000

That’s a very good point Brian. I didn’t want to imply that style is in any way sufficient to explain Scoble’s success, nor that it works the same for everyone. On the other hand, I think the basic problem persists that it is harder to blog as an institution (in the same sense that an unsigned editorial in a newspaper represents the view of the paper, not just the view of the author) than it is as an individual.
For me at least it’s hard to imagine a blog without the author, whereas it’s completely normal to watch a TV ad without knowing (or caring) who directed it.

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 15:10:53 +0000

Here’s the real difference between Scoble’s blog and most other business blogs… he started blogging in 2001, and built an audience of other early adopters.

Make sure you factor that in, because I think you’ll find that Scoble’s style isn’t going to work for much of anyone starting out in 2006 and going forward.