I don’t necessarily agree with Seth’s premise that multiple posts per day “make it easy to lose loyal readers.”
I think it is too generalizing. It really depends on the quality of the content. I’m happy to keep subscribed to a blogger that does multiple posts a day, as long as the content is relevant.
To answer Mark Evans’ question (re: am I posting too often), I think you are doing a fine job Mark. Your blog is becoming one of my favorites to read, so keep up the good work. Again, quality content makes it worthwhile.
Seth goes on to write:
over time, as blogs reach the mass market, the number of new readers coming in is going to go down, and the percentage of loyal readers will increase. The loyal readers are going to matter more.
Blogs with restraint, selectivity, cogency and brevity (okay, that’s a long way of saying “making every word count”) will use attention more efficiently and ought to win.
I’m not sure how he makes that first conclusion, unless he is looking very far into the future. The latest stat from Pew Internet (September 2005) shows that only 7% of Internet users read a blog as part of their daily online activity. That number might be a bit low, because people might not actually know they are reading a blog but I gather it’s not 50%. The point is that there is going to be a large number of readers discovering blogs and the blogosphere for quite some time.
The underlying premise of Seth’s post holds great truth – “the noisy tragedy of the blog commons.”
I totally agree with the latter conclusions: 1) Loyal readers matter more. 2) Those bloggers that make every word count are going to win.
With the continued growth of the blogosphere, I find it worthwhile to think about the future of blogs and their place in the media and Internet mix. I’ve been surmising about this particular topic for the last several months, so even though I don’t actually agree with a couple of Seth’s thoughts, I’m glad he articulated them.
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Ken Yarmosh is a consultant who helps organizations get the most out of their technology investments. He works with technology users and creators across various industries, focusing on technology education and strategy. With over 7 years IT experience, Ken has worked with small businesses, non-profits, federal agencies, and multi-million dollar companies.
His online efforts include acting as the Editor for the Corante Technology Hub and authoring the TECHNOSIGHT blog.
