Chris Bonney

In Case You Don't Quite Get Twitter Yet

Hear Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, talk at TED about how Twitter is changing the world.

Part 2: Are You A Blogger Or A Writer? You Can't Be Both.

This is a follow-up post to my post "Are You A Writer Or A Blogger? You Can't Be Both" from a few days back.

It generated a few comments on my blog, but it generated much more conversation on FriendFeed. Thanks to all of those folks who got involved in this dialogue.

I think it's a topic worth debating.

Listen to GeekAZine's podcast rant about my original post.

Robert Scoble commented with a quote on FF:

Bruce Sterling (famous science fiction writer) once told me that if you can hold someone's attention for hundreds of pages then you are a writer. If you can only hold their attention for a few paragraphs, you are a blogger.

Food for thought for sure. And very close to my exact point.

Now for further explanation on my original post:

Here's the thing: Too many bloggers consider increased traffic as the road to blogging success and increased revenue. They are trying to work every avenue and trick possible to drive people to their site while missing one very, very important rule to blogging. Okay, two very, very important rules: 1) It takes time to be successful and 2) you have to have excellent content. And the way to excellent content is to write well. A good topic poorly executed gets you nothing. 

I challenge anyone to point me to a person that sustained a blog, made it hugely successful, and retired early that wasn't a writer before they began writing a blog.

I'm not making this about labeling people a "blogger" as if that is some sort of stigma. It's just the term that best suits my case. I also don't feel like writers necessarily are only defined as writers if they get paid. I'm saying to be a successful writer of blogs on the level of ProBlogger or CopyBlogger or Seth Godin, you need to be a writer. You cannot achieve that level of success (and for this argument, let's call success tens of thousands of subscribers) without previous writing experience of some nature

Attempting to blog when you have no proof of writing skill is like kicking a can down the street and calling yourself a symphony.

Is this a clarification or a further muddying of the waters?

Photo: David Morris

Personal Web 2.0 Strategy Mind Map

As promised, here is a mind map created at MindMeister.com of my personal Web 2.0 strategy. This part actually came first. I brainstormed on all the social networking sites I use and determined which ones match best to my strategy for life and business. I'll share how to reach me at these sites in one of my next posts.

Your next move is to begin the goal-setting, strategy, and mind mapping for your own Web 2.0 strategy. Let me know how it goes.

What's Your Personal Web 2.0 Strategy?

Do you find yourself overwhelmed by all the social networking obligations you now seem to have?

BacN, brethren of SPAM, is the name for all the emails we get from friends and associates asking us to join social networks. They all have our best intentions at heart, of course, they've just finally learned about Gliffy or Prophylactic and want us to know all about it, too. Problem being, we're already trying to keep up with LinkedIn, Facebook, and Naymz as it is.

Where does it all end and how can we get a handle on this?

I propose a personal Web 2.0 strategy that will help you make the decisions on what sites to join and what sites to shy from. A strategy will ensure you're maximizing the power of Web 2.0 without drowning in it. It's easy to start to feel left out, but if you have a winning plan you can put your head down at night not wondering if you should have posted that video on Revver, too.

The first step in creating your strategy is to define your goals. Why are you a member of these sites anyway? To meet people? To promote your business?

As an example to get you started, below is a simplified version of my personal Web 2.0 strategy. My goal? To help promote my personal brand while acquiring a network of potential clients (and fans) for my writing and speaking gigs.

Social Networking

LinkedIn - I'm a member of LinkedIn to help meet professionals and acquire important personal testimonials.

Facebook - I don't do too much on Facebook yet, but the power of their reach and the groups feature is worth the price of admission for me long term.

Social Media

YouTube - I post my instructional email videos on YouTube. They are informational and general in nature to help promote my speaking as well as inform people.

Flickr - Haven't fully leveraged Flickr yet, but I will post pictures of my speaking engagements and training seminars to help people see me in action and understand how it looks to do business with me.

Podcasting - My podcasts are more opinionated, rant-type of posts that focus on email and web in general.

Social Bookmarking

Del.icio.us - I use this service for all my favorites. Some I "share" and others not. Some are business and some are personal. I tend not to share the business ones.

Blogging

Typepad - My blog is for thoughtful and useful articles. More helpful and journalistic in nature. Showcases my writing and creates subscribers who could potentially buy my future books and products.

Twitter - Micro-blogging. I use this as a vehicle to gain followers I wouldn't normally get through my blog. I do no promotion through Twitter, I simply post quotes of the day. It's unique for Twitter and feels like a breath of fresh air within this navel-gazing community.

Pulling It All Together

Google Reader - The simplest RSS reader for me to use. I do not subscribe to more than15 blogs at a time and I set aside one morning and one evening each week to read them. I am very discerning and skip any posts that do not relate to me gaining knowledge in my core areas: email, web, client service.

FriendFeed -  The granddaddy of all aggregators in my opinion. This is a one-stop shop for feeds. You have to see it to understand its power. Go to www.friendfeed.com.

What's Next?

It's hard to say if I'll join any more social networking sites. I'm also on Naymz, HubPages, and Squidoo to name a few, but it's difficult to find time and a place for these sites in my strategy, though they are all excellent sites in their own right.

For additional reading, check out Chris Brogan's blog at www.chrisbrogan.com. He is dedicated to writing 100 useful social networking blog posts in a row. Worth checking out. Another great blog on this topic is from Scott Monty at www.scottmonty.com.

Come back next week and I'll share the mind map of my Web 2.0 strategy along with how to reach me at all of these sites.

Do you have a strategy? Tell us about it.