Buzz Marketing with Blogs: Tidbits from Tim

Tidbits from Tim

I’m at the Northern Voice conference today, and will be posting off and on as I hear things I think are interesting. Let’s begin with some ideas from Tim Bray, Technology Director at Sun Microsystems: When you make corrections to a blog entry, be sure to note that there has been an update instead of just changing the original wording.

If you don’t do this you’re just a turkey and you shouldn’t be blogging.

He also points out that blogs should be more attractive than traditional media because they can make corrections, and traditional media can’t/won’t/doesn’t usually.

Flame judiciously. Reasonable people don’t change the world.

Tim says: Be brief. People are busy, and they don’t have time to read your deathless prose. But they might have time for 100 words when they don’t have time for 500.

No more stories about people getting fired for blogging! This is not a trend; people get fired all the time for lots of reasons, and this handful of people ostensibly fired for blogging does not signify. Maybe the media just likes writing about bloggers getting fired…

Listen.
Be brief.
Link often.
Post often.
Be intense.
Generalize.
Look good.
Spell-check.
Correct yourself.
Flame judiciously.
Don’t tell secrets.
Don’t ruin your life.
Don’t blog on command.
Balance hubris and humility.
Be sincere/authentic.
Write for pleasure.
Never lie.