Over the past several weeks I have had several interesting discussions with co-workers, clients and prospects about what bloggers generally like to write about.
They say, show me the top blogs about topic X or Y. If X or Y is software, gossip, politics or automotive, it’s pretty easy to show them vibrant blog communities and memes on these topics. However, it becomes a lot harder to find active communities when you’re looking for blogs about art or health or travel.
Are these blogs out there? For sure. However, they don’t have the same level of activity, community or influence that blogs that, say, focus on Google have. On the other hand, every one of these same sectors has one or more publications or a section of publication that carries huge influence. So clearly, there’s a splintering going on here between the blog and the media worlds.
The fact is, the blogosphere isn’t flat after all – at least right now. To buiild an active blog, you need to find a way to bridge what you care about to bloggers’ passions. Right now, if you look at the lists of the top postings of the day, the content flow tends to be more political and technical in nature.
So does this mean you should not venture into the blogosphere with a corporate blog if you can’t make this bridge? Not necessarily. You just need to have different expectations and measures for success. You also need to keep in mind that you’re placing a bet that the topics may flatten to match broader interests in the future, just as they did in the early days of the Web. So will it? Time will tell.
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
