Comments on: Nielsen vs. Andreessen on blogging

By: Nielson on blogging

Nielson on blogging — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:31:12 +0000

[...] few weeks back usability “guru” Jacob Nielson posted on his Alertbox pulpit his views about blogging. At the time I didn’t have time to respond, except to Twitter some snarky remark about Jacob [...]

By: Cleo Saulnier

Cleo Saulnier — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:17:15 +0000

Blogs are fun. And they provide a means to establish an identity behind any product or work you do. In many cases, there may be no tangible dollars that you can pinpoint, but blogs do add value. If you go somewhere and say “I’m the author of blog X” and they recognise it, even if you’re an occasional asshole like me on my blog, it provides recognition. It provides a guage of what they can expect no matter what the reputation.

A friend once told me that you should never be angry at someone who’s an asshole right from the beginning when they meet you. He has the decency to tell you up front who he is. Someone that earns your trust and then stabs you in the back are the really evil ones. So dealing with someone that doesn’t have a blog is actually more dangerous than someone that does with a negative reputation. At least you know what you can expect from someone that has different ideals than you, often with very positive results because everything is out in the open. If you’re determining risk factors, this has very real consequences. This goes for anyone that buys a blogger’s product or services.

From personal experience, I can say that life is SO much easier and profitable with a blog. There are things I’m doing now ($$$) that would be impossible without my blog. I’ve got Project V going and have a construction project on the go that is still gaining funding. Before my blog, no way I would even imagine doing this stuff. Scott has “Dreaming in Code” and Salon (that comes to mind just now). You can list Joel and Paul Graham and their businesses. Now imagine all these people without their blogs and tell me this won’t affect their value.

By: links for 2007-07-12 by andydickinson.net

links for 2007-07-12 by andydickinson.net — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:39:53 +0000

[...] Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard »Nielsen vs. Andreessen on blogging “Nielsen starts from the assumption that your goal isn’t self-expression or persuasion or enjoyment or anything besides customer acquisition. People won’t pay for blogs; therefore, blogging is a waste of time.” I agree. (tags: Nielsen blogging blogs) [...]

By: Jim Jarrett

Jim Jarrett — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:41:50 +0000

Alan makes the point I was going to… Nielsen has been running a blog-style site at UseIt.com for a long time… and he doesn’t charge for his postings there. He does usually refer to the for-pay reports that NN/g develops, but over and over I see people site his free articles in even scholarly HCI journals. His “blog” creates flow to his business.

By: Alan De Smet

Alan De Smet — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:21:32 +0000

It’s a bit unfair to poke at Nielsen’s Alertbox for being so business oriented. That’s his focus! He doesn’t mention the other reasons people blog because it’s off topic. It’s like reading an article titled, “How to get your book published,” then complaining that the author ignored that lots of people don’t care if their novel is published.

His definition of “blog” is very 2001, but at least he does define it in passing. I just enjoyed the irony because I’ve been reading Alertbox for several years now and I’ve always considered a blog. And of course even if you’re doing the sort articles Nielsen encourages, you’ll probably find that blogging software is an easy and effective way to manage it.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:28:36 +0000

Josh Marshall and a couple of others have done something like the PBS/NPR model of having “pledge drives” every once in a while when they need to raise some extra money for something special. Otherwise, ads are the main way that blogs that want/need to make money generate their revenue.

As with many critics of the online world, Neilson has mismatched the technology and its role. Blogs are not the new journals: JAMA, Foreign Affairs, and the rest of the serious publications where “world-class experts” publish their work will not now or ever be replaced by blogs. Blogs will certainly supplement those sources as a medium for developing and discussing those ideas. The fact that blogs are record, distribution channel, and feedback mechanism all in one makes them extremely useful for iteratively hashing out ideas and that’s the use that “world-class experts” will have for them.