What to include in your blog @ Radio Free Blogistan

October 20, 2004

Christian Crumlish

At Watermark, Sharon Brogan notices that some bloggers are pointedly eschewing politics i nthe runup to the election, and she asks her readers for guidance on whether they prefer a blog that focuses on some core areas of knowledge or one that ranges over a wide variety of topics, including political punditry.

It's a great question and I doubt there's a single one-size-fits-all answer. I've often read commenters on this or that weblog complain that "I don't read you for your political views - I read you for your expertise" or "I don't read you for your cat pictures, I read you for your political views" or variations on those themes.

Others seem to prefer the holistic view of a human being. Jason Kottke is the canonical "anything I think about is fair game" / "it's all here in one place" type of blogger.

I've gone the channelization route, posting to multiple blogs, sometimes into specific categories as a way of enabling people to consume a focused stream. Then I reaggregrate (most) of what I write in my monolog, but that's just me.

I think all approaches are valid, and asking your readers is a smart way to learn from them. The comment thread at Brogan's Watermark entry is well worth reading to gather a range of insightful views. Any blogger would envy sbpoet for her intelligent, thoughtful readers.

Posted by xian at October 20, 2004 10:58 AM

Comments

From my own experience splitting things up has been tremendously beneficial in terms of both appeal and traffic. It would probably matter what your interests are, but if a particular person is into even semi-divergent things, "channelization" is definitely the way to go (at least if you're the type to care about "serving" your traffic/market)...

Posted by: Caleb at October 20, 2004 12:08 PM

Interesting because I feel I am outgrowing the single blog format. Have you seen how Dave Pell from electablog has things setup? Same logo, just different color. I like his "branding".

My one worry is that my writing will be get atomized or that cross indexing of topics will be harder if I stick to conventional blog software. In my case, I feel more and more strongly that for better managing of multiple blogs, I'm going to need Drupal. Meaning, as a single unique occurrence, blog software not matter what you use is OK. Once you are talking at multiple that are interrelated in categories, topics or taxonomies, you've got to use something more robust like Drupal or Plone.

Posted by: liza at October 21, 2004 5:55 AM

On an unrelated note: Nice to hear you on Tech Nation last night, xian!

Posted by: Neva at October 23, 2004 9:08 AM