Podcast

SPOS #319 – What Does The Future Of Blogging Hold With Mark W. Schaefer

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Welcome to episode #319 of Six Pixels Of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast. Mark W. Schaefer over at Grow Blog recently published his second book, Return On Influence – The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence Marketing, which dissects the fascinating world of social scoring an individual consumer’s true influence in the online channels. Beyond that, he also wrote a contentious blog post titled, Is there anything new in blogging? No (I even responded over here: What’s Next? It’s You). As we frequently have debates and deep-dives on topics here at the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast, we felt that we could delve deeper into what blogging means in 2012 and how it can (and should evolve). It turns out that we’re not the only ones who are thinking about the evolution of blogging and publishing. The day after we recorded this conversation, Twitter founders, Biz Stone and Ev Williams, announced the launch of Medium (and place where they hope to rethink the publishing through a new platform). Is blogging old news or is it still brand spanking new and in need of some evolution? Enjoy the conversation…

Here it is: Six Pixels Of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast – Episode #319 – Host: Mitch Joel.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels Of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast – Episode #319 – Host: Mitch Joel.

3 comments

  1. Mitch, I agree with you. From my perspective blogging is very much alive and evolving. Liked your position on holding the line on what you will do and won’t.

  2. You are both right.
    The question is this: “Are we at the beginning or the end of the developmental process of new media and the content that provides the substance of it.”
    For content, I think we are at a point where change is necessary for it to remain interesting. It will move from commentary (standing apart and describing what I am thinking, doing or observing) and something more proactive and instructive (this is what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, the impact upon me and my world, and you can do it too). This is what Chris Guillebeau and Tim Ferris have done. As bloggers mature in the connection between what they write and how they live, I think we’ll see more of this, and this is good. If there is a spectrum it is from consumers of content to commentators of content to producers of content. This to me is what is really the interesting thing going forward. Because the old, legacy institutions are really organized for consumers, even employees as consumers, not for producers. The more producers of content, the more the context for how that content is delivered will change. This leads to what I want to see in the technology development side.
    I’ve felt for a long time that the next thing isn’t video, but integration. Most of these new media platforms don’t make it easy to actually work together as a team, especially when you are dispersed globally. I want to be able to bring up a screen in my Facebook chat space where we can both be writing notes that we share. And not just text notes, but drawing notes, being to connect visually ideas and processes within that space. The more these tools allow us to collaborate, the more it will feed change in content.
    I see blogging as a platform for personal development. Not just of ideas, but of communicating ideas. My own development has led me to write longer posts, taking days, some time weeks to write, so I can be clear for myself what I want to say to others. I do take the time to tag. And what traffic I get, I get through those tags. I’m not convinced that there is as big a market for 1500 word blog posts, but I get around 200 hits a day, and I think that is not bad. I’d like it to be better. I’m starting a new blog next month, with it, my methodology will be different. It is all experimentation for learning.
    Thanks guys. Great podcast.

  3. This is somewhat of an aside, but I absolutely LOVE the Kindle app!
    I’m stilling living in Blackberryland, but I’ve read half a dozen books, cover-to-cover (so to speak), on my tiny Blackberry screen.
    As a person who has striven their entire life to never be caught anywhere without a book – this app is a Godsend! Besides the SiriusXM app, the Kindle app is only other app I legitimately use on a consistently basis.

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