Meme generation, and thoughts about the old blog.
I’ve been noticing an effect here on the blog. You all know I work hard to be ‘first’ to a particular kind of eclectic story ... and you all notice I don’t seem to get any cred for it. My dominance as a meme generator ended in 2004, but most significantly in the months after Twitter opened the floodgates. My thousands of unique visitors a day dropped to below 500 within six months. In the last few months, a pattern has been becoming all too clear to me, a pattern that has been gradually becoming more clear since that time:
There’s now a social aspect to news.
I’ve seen this effect over and over again now. Being first to a story does not matter as much as posting a story when the social conversation is peaking. The story’s only important now when everyone else is talking about it. Even folks who I know read this blog regularly, will pick up and post a story I’ve reported days before from another source than mine - when it’s peaking in popularity. I felt it was a stab in the back, until I realized the importance of the social buzz. Folks seem to feel safer forming opinions and expressing opinions within a group environment, where the consensus can be built from multiple sources. Most importantly, however, building consensus opinion is now entertainment.
I was discussing this with Brian Tercero (Santa Fe’s Twitter powerhouse and Wordpress MU master) at a party the other night, and he suggested watching Twitter trends and perhaps delaying posts until trends peak to maximize reach. Traffic has never really been my goal, reputation and authority are ... but Brian laid out convincing argument that popularity, social trending and authority are now inextricably linked.
My ‘00’s romanticism of how weblogs should influence people is no longer accurate, nor is this ‘old school’ romanticism effective. This has been niggling at the back of my brain for a while, but this romanticism got laid out on the road and run over a couple of times Saturday night.
It was also mentioned by party host and occasional commenter ‘Eric of Santa Fe’, that one of the main reasons he frequents my blog is for Santa Fe news ... Santa Fe ‘flavor.’ I’ve gotten away from that a bit, and it needs to be restored.
So I’m going to be doing some experimenting here, watching my stats a little closer to see what trends within the blog. This blog is really an extension of my own wide-ranging curiousity, shaded a bit by what I know certain readers enjoy reading.
I picked up “The Four Hour Workweek” the other day, and though I have doubts about the ethics behind some of it (my brain screams ‘con’ at some of the chapters), I cannot deny the author’s contention that maximizing effectiveness is the way to go. This blog is not at all effective. In fact, it’s almost a living fossil, a coelacanth. Time to change things up a bit, narrow the focus, play to my strengths. I need to take into account how you all are absorbing your information.
Should I echo posts in Twitter? Use Twitter as a sideblog of sorts? Focus more on longer narratives? Local color? Emphasize art more than tech? More/less photography? Show you how I’m remodeling my house? Deemphasize politics? Add video? Do a podcast? Do all these things? None?
Let me know, if you have time in your busy days, what you come here for ... what you’d like to see here. I know what I’m planning to do (it’s a surprise), but I’d like input. I’m interested.
Comments:
I’ve always liked coelacanths. But am far from representative… 
> Being first to a story does not matter as much as posting a story when the social conversation is peaking. The story’s only important now when everyone else is talking about it.
Hrm. That goes against all my notions of being ‘cutting edge,’ seems very ‘me too’ as opposed to having one’s finger on the pulse…
Another vote for the coelacanth. They’ve made it into this time and place just as effectively as all the newfangled critters who came along later.
Leave it alone. Your blog is good just the way it is. If you start integrating Twitter posts, Facebook posts and other non-content junk you will lose more readers than just me.
Most of the content I see on Twitter and Facebook is what I consider “meta-content” and filler. It’s not a good use of my time to read or skim, and more often than not, it’s irrelevant to what I’m looking for. I use Facebook mostly to keep up-to-date on what my family and friends are doing.
Replacing a blog with Twitter/Facebook somehow devalues your perspective. Integrating micro-blog content into you blog doesn’t diversify, it devalues and drowns out the good blog posts.
I ‘second’ every idea that Cameron Barrett posted (above). I too come for the truly eclectic variety of posts. I especially enjoy the science, history, archeology and medical posts. I don’t EVER visit Facebook. I follow you on Twitter, and value the tidbits you share there. I wouldn’t like it if you repeated them on your blog, wasting my time and taking up space for no reason. If you changed your blog dramatically, I would be very sorry. Please remember Garret, dear sir, there is no virtue in being a slave to innovation. Please value your blog’s uniqueness as much as we, your faithful readers, do.
I appreciate all the comments posted here. I’ve been itching to redesign the weblog (something I’ve done much more often, usually), and was wondering what new technologies to include.
I have no intention of Twitterizing or Facebooking the site. I might add a ‘like’ button or something, just to see if it adds anything to the blog, but I’ll try to keep it minimal (as with all other features on this site).
You all know my philosophies, I think:
1. For most links, don’t just comment - value-add. Either through other background linkage or anecdote.
2. Don’t link big, common stories that people are seeing plastered all over hell and high water ... but if it’s important enough, post it with a twist.
3. Trust instinct.
4. Always answer upset commenters.
5. Any technical features (comments, permalinks, Twitter, Facebook) should use the concept of ‘hidden depth.’ Minimal design impact, yet easy to access if a reader wants to access it.
6. This blog is about information, mostly. Don’t let the design overpower the text.
My major issue is trying to figure out how to parcel out my time. Since putting the blog into a CMS, it takes more time to compose posts. I have add a weblog to my business website, and I still hesitate to connect this blog to my business because of my political commentary here. So this is going to necessarily turn me into a two-blog dude (along with Facebook, Twitter and all the associated michegas).
To be honest, I was afraid you folks were going to ask me to change over to do all KINDS of crazy social media stuff. I’m a little relieved. Perhaps I’ll put my design ideas online, and let you all vote.
I’m a regular lurker and enjoy your blog the way it is. Besides, if you aren’t spending your free time watching Twitter trends peak, you’ll have more time to hit the trails!
Jabo, you cut through the mire like a hot knife through butter.
I agree with the fans, of course, but to your original point about being cited or having influence I will only say that a couple of social media types buttons/links would probably help.
Hey Bill, I was expecting you’d say Kachingle would help!
What bugs me about the social buttons is that I don’t necessarily want a bunch of multicolor chiclets on my page. I know they need to be recognizable, and I know heat maps will probably show they’re best used that way.
Silly, really. It’s like I’m complaining about the design of the modern toilet, and insisting on using a Turkish model. It would just serve to get everyone really annoyed. Social media graphics/buttons are ubiquitous, and everyone knows how to use them.
Do you remember that DHTML Radio.Userland interface I created way back when, with the draggable DIVs? You could drag my articles all over the place, expand and collapse. Thinking about using another nonstandard concept, the expandable sidepanel for menu and reference items. Time has come, now that we’re all transitioning to widescreen monitors. It would allow more central space for a book-like reading experience.
Kachingle will help, but not with this question 
For example, I noticed you read Washington’s Blog but aren’t kachingling him.
However, I think you make a strawman argument. I’m not suggesting a bunch of multicolor chiclets, just one (Twitter) or two (+ Facebook). For those two specifically, there are fairly small two color icon images (hope I’m using #of colors correctly since one is white) in wide use. Further, you could put them on the post page and not on the index page to avoid massive repetition.
More than an innocent little strawman - strawmen in my own head. I need to burn ‘em down!
I rarely visit the site proper. The bulk of my interaction is in my Google Reader where I keep most of my notes/comments. I comment here out of legacy attachment. I tend to fly through the posts pretty fast.
I stick around because, as they say, “I like your style, kid.” As long as you don’t turn into some kind of gossip rag, I’m sure I’ll continue to haunt the comments. 
What, you mean you won’t read here if I decide to go all Perez Hilton?
Actually, J, you’re representing a large portion of my readership. More hit the site via RSS than by actual home page loads. A detail I’m not ignoring.
Next entry: Wall Street Journal: An Airline Magazine That Makes Travelers Want to Pull the Rip Cord. >>
I enjoy reading your blog for a number of reasons, probably the most because your choice of news is eclectic and interesting, along with your take on it. I get information here that I don’t elsewhere. (Granted, I am not a twitterhead, and don’t spend much time combing newsfeeds either. So you are a valuable source!)