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Too often I see people thinking of blogs like traditional media and missing the point that there’s a much deeper relationship enabled through social media enabled two-way communication and relationship building.
A quote that I’ve brought up in nearly all my recent speaking engagements and lectures comes courtesy of the brilliant Clay Shirky in Here Comes Everybody:
“The fact that people are all talking to one another in these small clusters also explains why bloggers with a dozen readers don’t have a small audience : they don’t have an audience at all, they just have friends”
So when I look at something like the Edelman Trust Barometer graph below showing that 16% of responders trust “personal blogs” but 40% trust “conversation with your peers” it becomes clear to me we’re slightly missing the point. What we need to think about is not the tool we’re using (in this case the 16% trusting blogs) but the relationships enabled by the tool (better indicated by the 40% trusting ‘conversation with your peers”).
When I think about the blogs I subscribe to and how much influence they have on my thinking I know it’s because I see the authors as my friends. I think that drawing a line between ‘real world’ relationships and ‘online relationships’ is making an artificial distinction - for example, I might not trust a random Facebook user, but the people I’m connected to there are all my real world friends.
So my question to you - if you think about our relationship via this blog, do you see me as a blogger or a friend? (also, I’m pretty sure this line of thinking has been raised a few times in the past, so feel free to point to any of that commentary if it rings a bell).
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Comments
05.06.09
Hi Paull,
As of right now, I consider you a blogger. If you reach out to your readers and do more than comment and give them feedback, you could become a friend.
I have made friends over Twitter and blogs that I've never met but they would still do a favor for me and I for them. I think the word "friend" could be someone you have a connection with, not unlike your real life friends. With real life friends you just have much more time to explore those connections and actually hanging out with them. Meeting them also builds trust a lot faster than reading their blog or Twitter stream.
great post! good thoughts.
take care
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