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(almost) All blogging is local
The long tail is crap for most bloggers. They're happy enough just to communicate with micro-audiences.
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Over the past month, I've come to the conclusion that all of this discussion of the long tail is crap. The idea of the long tail is that there are a few winner main stream sites that receive the lion's share of attention. However, there is hope for lesser niche sites because the Internet audience is large enough that they will still be economically viable. So, for instance, digg may be the winner for now in technology sites, but there is still room for specialized sites like the Corante web hub.
Well, maybe, but for the most part, I think it is the wrong point of departure. Most (real, not SPAM) people who write blogs are not writing them to capture some piece of a larger pie. Rather, their point of departure is to communicate with some local audience. Oh, it would be nice to gain greater general visibility, but that is not the motivator. In fact, it may be distracting from the real value creation process. Here are two illustrative cases:
- Diva Training: This is a blog written by a personal trainer here in Ann Arbor. She wants to talk about her experience as an amateur bodybuilder and generally share her fitness experiences. Who's her audience? Her clients, friends, and family. Trying to get into general Internet visibility is a little too diffuse a goal for her to spend her time. It's worth it to her if it succeeds with this extremely local group.
- SQL, XML, and Ice Cream: This was a site I did for a class at Michigan's Ross School of Business this past Fall. The idea of the site was to openly share knowledge among an extremely local community of students. Visibility beyond this group was a nice bonus, a confirmation of the value of the discussion, but not the primary objective.
So, while commentators may focus on people trying to capture a small piece of a large pie, most people who actually blog are just trying to make whole tartlets. At some higher level, these tartlets might seem like pieces of a larger pie, but the people making them are just in it to make little pies.
Bud posted this on January 5, 2006
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Comments
I think this totally depends on the subject matter as well as the disposition of the blogger. It is clearly important, however, that we know how to articulate the benefits of blogging for those not interested in global, long-tail, big pie audiences. I think you do a good job of that here. The intranet blog is a whole other matter, the aggregated blog still an other - there are so many kinds of blogs that an elevator pitch for the whole medium can be a challenge. Perhaps thinking of how one would describe the benefits of books, or recorded music, might help. You wouldn't say "oh, books are great because you can write a best seller that's read by millions all over the world." That might be true, but it's not really the point. Perhaps blogging as your ticket to global reach is similarly but one of a large number of possibilities.
Posted by: Marshall Kirkpatrick ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://thecommunityengine.com/home/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 5, 2006 12:51 PM
Here's my read
The top part of the power curve represents the water cooler sites -- the things people read to fulfill their social obligations and have something to talk about around the water cooler.
The top part of the power curve is where a few sites get a little attention, from a lot of people. However, it says nothing about the attention habits of any particular individual.
I have several top of the power curve sites in my reader. They get, maybe, five percent of my overall attention. Head in the sand? Maybe, but I just don't need to know much about the middle-east situation to get my job done.
People glance at the top of the power curve, but live in the long tail. Presidential advisors and social studies teachers are obvious exceptions.
I discussed these themes a bit here:
http://theworkingnetwork.com/blogs/blog/archive/2005/12/29/longtailmaincourse.aspx
Posted by: Bob Rebholz at January 26, 2006 06:26 PM
