Could Be Thicker

Something that has always bugged me is how people suggest good bloggers should be consistent with their content.

I don’t understand why this medium of new media needs to comply with traditional media practises.

My Dad reads his newspaper every morning. Therefore his news paper must land on his doorstep at 6am each day. But I don’t read the newspaper, I have an my RSS Feed. I want things to come in as they are published, not once a day at the same time.

I try to post every second day. But sometimes it’s longer and sometimes it’s shorter. People subscribe to my blog and pull my feed into their reader when a post is published. So why does my content need to be consistent?

No Comments
  • marrowmonkey
    Posted at October 30, 2008 10:30am, 30 October Reply

    Most people are like your Dad, they like to keep things regular.
    If I get 3 posts off the one blog on the same day you can be sure I will skip the 1st two.

  • Gavin Heaton
    Posted at October 30, 2008 11:24am, 30 October Reply

    It’s all about your readers, Zac. Not about you. Like MarrowMonkey said, we all have our patterns and our expectations … when they are met we are happy. When they are not we lose attention and favour.
    Just think of it as a brand promise. Consistency of voice. Consistency of topic. Reliability on all fronts 😉

  • Granleese
    Posted at October 30, 2008 11:33am, 30 October Reply

    Humans are creatures of habit; and the bulk of these habits are linked with time of day/week/year. An internet user needs to spend a lot of time online to get RSS, as it is is most useful in context of high-frequency, as you have to be checking it many times a day for it to be of any use to you.

    Otherwise it is no different to checking your email once a day, checking a blog/website each morning (much like your father and his newspaper).

  • Zac Martin
    Posted at October 30, 2008 11:45am, 30 October Reply

    Interesting discussion.

    I wonder if this creature of habit and need for patterns will diminish with future generations? Gen Y’s like myself are on Facebook all day, and I have my email client and RSS Feed open all day too. It might only be on in the background, but as soon as something updates I’m on top of it.

    I guess I see this as similar to a television station broadcasting once a week and a YouTube channel doing it when ever they want.

  • Daniel
    Posted at October 30, 2008 12:25pm, 30 October Reply

    I must say I am a creature of habit. I like to be organised and have a routine and get a bit agitated when it gets a bit out.

    But on the other hand, and I am brand new to blogging, I kinda agree with Zac. I have (what I think are) a whole lot of great ideas … should I wait til my ‘regular post time’ to get them out there? Or should I get them out while they are fresh in my mind?

    I read advice all the time that says ‘post 3 times a week’ … but how does that fit with a red hot breaking topic that should be blogged about asap!

    I think if you blog regularly but reasonably randomly (i.e. whenever you want) then readers will just skip over a post if it doesn’t appeal to them – much like Dad would if he saw a heading in the newspaper that didn’t grab his attention. Dad doesn’t not buy the paper because every single piece of content is aimed at him.

    And just because you post ‘every Wednesday’ doesn’t mean you readers only want content from you ‘only on Wednesday’s’. Maybe they want more … maybe they want less.

    I suppose at the end of the day the pressure is on the blogger to write great content – after all, you can’t get too much of a good thing! (apart from the too many beers I had on the weekend).

  • Adam
    Posted at October 30, 2008 3:07pm, 30 October Reply

    Depends whether you view your blog as professional or amateur!

    Gavin’s got a point – to me it’s not just brand promise, it’s also CRM (managing expectations and building trust).

    Not everyone subscribes via RSS, so you’ve got to organise your content delivery to manage people’s expectations of when they will see a post. If something as simple as your posting schedule is completely haphazard, what should your readers start to think about you as a blogger/person? Get it right and you’ll build trust between you and your readers – they trust that you will deliver when they expect you to deliver, not when you feel like it.

  • Stan Lee
    Posted at October 30, 2008 7:41pm, 30 October Reply

    Typical Gen Y.

    Next you’ll be using the C word in job interviews!

    😉

  • Zac Martin
    Posted at October 30, 2008 7:47pm, 30 October Reply

    @ Daniel

    Can you ever have too much beer? Good points.

    @ Adam

    It’s interesting the emphasis you place on pleasing readers (customers), which I don’t think is my sole objective. But again, good points, loving this conversation.

    @ Stan

    Should I be worried about the photos and status updates you now have access to!? ;]

  • Rick Clarke
    Posted at November 1, 2008 3:17pm, 01 November Reply

    I suspect I have less readers than I would if I posted more regularly. But personally it doesn’t bother me much.

    Some regularity is good, but I’ll take quality over quantity any day, thanks.

    Also, I don’t have a feed reader.

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