Credit: Jayme Soulati, Millennium Park, Chicago
Once again, big versus small is a platform for a discussion on blogging. You may recall Mark’s Schaefer’s blog post about the future of blogging (and the for the life of me, I combed his blog for the link to that and cannot find it, sorry!) which took the ‘sphere by storm. Last week, as was shared in a post on Feedblitz, I was called a little blogger.
Most peeps who know me also know there’s nothing little about me…both physically and personality. My community supported me; yet I took no offense. Barrett Rossie, who writes at The All Inbound Blog and was recently featured on Follow Friday at Spin Sucks (his background is highly impressive) was more aghast and said, “what does that make me a micro-blogger?”
Every blogger who writes a blog should feel big…really big.
Characteristics of Bloggers
- It takes courage and inspiration to launch a blog and keep it going day after day.
- It takes engagement, community- and-relationship building to create something Kevin Costner-esque that people want to come to and feel welcome in.
- It takes a special kind of deference to let the criticisms rub off shoulders and the teasing not become uncomfortable.
- It takes a person with an open mind to engage with all types of personalities, ages, genders, religions, ethnicities, nationalities, topics, tones, voices, and so much more.
- It takes a special someone who courageously braves the critics and publishes opinions and thoughts that may rub instead of soothe
- It takes confidence to bare a soul now and again with more fervent emotion and show another side of the person behind the masthead.
- It takes attitude to stick out the neck in support of peers and the community who may be getting bashed in comments.
- It takes a mature blogger to NOT put up the dukes with a commenter who goes off on a tangent when the instinct is to fight back and engage.
- It takes confidence to ignore the posts from the A-listers who share their vision for the future of blogging that doesn’t bode well for those of us looking on.
- Most of all it takes YOU knowing that in your contribution is special and no one can tell you any differently.
These characteristics make a successful blogger regardless of the number of subscribers. If you’re really into big data, that’s fine, but once in awhile look at the human side because behind every good blog is a person.
What do you think?
