A Case Study in Misunderstanding a Blog Post (and How You Can Prevent It)

Yesterday, I learned something valuable: nobody really reads blog posts anymore.

Yes, life is short, we’re always in a hurry, and we rarely have time to read closely.

And yet, funny enough, people do still have time to comment… even when their comments are irrelevant to the actual conversation.

But I think we can fix this.

Here’s How It All Happened…

When I read Jeff Pulver‘s blog post about how Twitter might eventually be replaced by Foursquare and Gowalla, I thought it was interesting.  I used Jeff’s initial observation as a jumping-off point for my own broader post about the nature of web tools, and how their relevance (and audience) is forever shifting.

But apparently the only part of my post anybody read was the title.

That’s because I received a number of tweets and comments that either agreed or disagreed with my predictions of Twitter’s eventual demise…

… which is interesting, because I’m not the one who made those predictions.  Jeff Pulver did.  I simply used his assertion as the basis for a broader discussion.  But that departure never registered with the readers of my post.

However, instead of lamenting people’s inability to read or process information, I see this as an opportunity to examine some of the ways a good blog post can go bad.

Namely…

1.  A Good Title Is a Double-Edged Sword.

“Is Twitter Less Relevant Today?” was a great title for two reasons:

• It spoke directly to Pulver’s original post (“SXSW 2010: The Days Twitter Became Less Relevant”), and
• It included the word “Twitter,” which is guaranteed linkbait (especially on Twitter).

But it was also a bad title for two reasons:

• The post itself was about more than just the limiting titular question, and
• Asking a simple question in the title gives hurried people an excuse to not read the post

And yet, as we’ve seen, just because people don’t read the post, that doesn’t mean they won’t comment.

2.  Outline Your Entire Post in the First Paragraph

People are usually in a rush.  Sometimes they only read enough of a post to decide if they agree with you.

Other times, they read just enough to find an excuse to leave a comment.  They appreciate the work you put into your post, but they don’t have time to process it fully — who does?  There’s more Internet to explore! — and so they leave a comment that lets you know they at least read part of your post.

And sometimes, the only part they read is the title.  (See above.)

Is this good or bad?  That depends on your purpose for blogging in the first place.

3.  Pirates Attract Parrots

When Doug Haslam and Chris Brogan tweeted links to my post, their followers did the same — while also weighing in on whether or not they agreed with me.  Suddenly, because two well-connected tweeters pointed at something, it became necessary for their acolytes to voice their opinion about a debate they thought was happening.

Believe me, I understand the value of being considered interesting by the tastemakers.  If I wasn’t, you’d probably never have heard of me in the first place.

But I’m also used to the floods of people who wash up on my shores whenever someone’s bright spotlight falls on my beach.  And those people are usually only here for a moment before they’re washed back out to sea.

I enjoy momentary piques of interest, but I value long-term relationships far more.

That said…

4.  Don’t Look a Gift Debate in the Mouth.

I didn’t intend to perpetuate the “Is Twitter Dying?” debate because I’m more interested in talking about the nature of web tools as a whole.

But the readers my post attracted were interested in the debate (which, as far as I know, didn’t even exist two days ago).

Thus, although I didn’t spark the conversation I was hoping we’d have, I did get a lot of feedback on how people feel about Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla.  I even learned the answers to questions I hadn’t even thought to ask.

Therefore,  I can’t help but view the conversation that did erupt as being valuable in some way.  That’s because unexpected data is just wisdom that no one else is asking for… yet.

5.  Summarize Your Blog Posts at the End, to Satisfy the Skimmers

Yesterday, I thought my blog post would inspire a certain kind of conversation.

I was wrong.

Today, I’m evaluating what did happen and learning valuable lessons about how to better communicate my ideas.

And if better conversations are just a matter of smarter titles, clearer motivations and a clever call to action, haven’t we all learned something valuable from this surprisingly scattered process?

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Tags: Armchair Sociology, audience, Blogging, chrisbrogan, common sense, jeffpulver, language, My Social Media POV, perception