Watch Your Relations With Other People Carefully, Be Reserved
I’m going to take liberties in today’s FortunateBluFrog post and change relations to relationships, I’m sure that is what the fortune means. Because I’m pretty sure I’m not out having “relations” with other people.
How Does This Relate to Blogging?
This one is pretty funny because it pretty much is the opposite of what you should do to be a successful blogger. Or at least that is what many people would lead you to beleive. Maybe if you were a bit more reserved online in your relationships with other people then you might be a little more successful.
That’s Crazy Talk
It seems that to be a success you have to continually shout from the rafters about your product. In blogging that means your blog. So if you aren’t constantly promoting your blog on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Stumble and the 20,000 other platforms then your blog will not become noticed.
With Everyone Shouting, Who is Listening?
And this is the problem with getting noticed in the blogging arena. You don’t get noticed because there is always someone who has a louder voice. In my own life I’m a pretty quiet guy, my friends and my family are all (for the most part) talkers. I’m a listener. I rarely speak unless I have something to contribute. I take the Silent Bob approach. I watch everything boil it down to the essentials and let you know what I think. Usually it is something funny or profound, mostly it is just something to contribute.
Are You Making a Contribution That Matters?
Are you actually making a contribution or are you just adding to the general noise. Sometimes Twitter makes me think of the seagull scene in Finding Nemo. Each bird just screaming Mine, Mine, Mine. That’s what I see much of the time on twitter. I think overall the hyping of blogs on twitter is going to run its course like everything else. If you are not making an actual contribution to the conversation you are going to end up out of the conversation by default. I guess you might want to take this fortune to heart and be a tad more reserved online. Work on your posts and craft them well find a few people to read them who will tell other people to read them. If your content is sound and worth it then it doesn’t matter how loud other people scream “Mine” people will seek out “Yours”.
Make sense to me. It’s good advice!
Babas last blog post..Ultimate Blog Party Is Here
Thanks Baba,
I never know how these will be received. They are so off the cuff.
I got a fortune cookie a few years ago that I carry around with me in my wallet.
It’s almost the same as yours, but with shat seems like a bad translation.
It reads “Watch your relations without other people carefully, he reserved.”. I never quite got what it meant.
Jamie,
It actually says “he reserved” That is funny. He reserved what? I wonder.