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bloglash
Andrew Keen says in his new book, The Cult of the Amateur (which I have not yet read but certainly plan to), that the Internet is killing our culture and harming our economy. Keen apparently argues that a see of amateur content is drowning out the important voices. I'd say "let the bloglash begin" except there's been a bloglash for almost as long as there have been blogs.
In my personal case, I've been experiencing a bloglash over the past month. I've been playing around with new blogging paradigms like microblogging on twitter and tumblogging on tumblr and have this huge but insatiated desire to switch platforms. You'll all ask, what's stopping you? Time, energy, inertia, and my googlejuice addiction.
I've also taking a whipping for various positions I've taken on this blog. I realize that comes with the territory and if you can't take the heat you should get out of the kitchen. I think I can take the heat, but it's still uncomfortable to sweat.
And it's plain hard work. I like to blog at least once and ideally twice a day. I never lack things to write about, but it takes time to articulate a thought cleanly and concisely. And I only do it right about a third of the time anyway.
I've got an audience that's pretty significant, but not growing much. Each day I get about 6,000 visits. About 3,500 come via the web. And about 2,500 come via the feed. Over the course of a month, this blog is visited by about 70,000 people on the web and I've got about 35,000 subs to my two primary feeds. So 6,000 per day and maybe 100,000 over the course of a month. That's a big number, but not huge. Not top 100 for sure, probably not even top 500. And it's been pretty stagnant over the past year. Here's my web visits over the past year.
So you can see that it's large but stagnant. I guess I've reached all the people who have an interest in reading my musings on venture capital, technology, music, new york city, and whatever else interests me. I've come to grips with that and realize that AVC is not a growth opportunity.
So I've been struggling with the blogging thing. But yesterday Jackson sent me a link to this post where he talked about two of his guitar heros, Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner. And guess what, Dick Wagner replied and then joined the conversation. That's simply awesome. It happens like that to me all the time too. And that's all it took. The bloglash is over. I am in love with blogging again.
Comments (16) | Posted July 1, 2007 in Venture Capital and Technology
Comments
I like the way for a moment there you feel your blog isn't worthy if it isn't in growth! The VC mentality taking over?! I have projects which will never make money or barely break even, or gain a bigger audience - they are still worth doing.
Posted by: charlie gower | Jul 1, 2007 6:26:36 AM
if growth matters to you, see if you can talk Steve J. into putting you on the iPhone desktop.
Posted by: Robert Seidman | Jul 1, 2007 12:46:43 PM
Actually, practically anything can become a growth opportunity if you think of it as a matrix, so to speak.
- You can use the AVC blog as a platform to move into many, many others things, such as identifying areas to invest in and becoming a VC ; - seriously: you can do book deals, more speaking opportunities, advisory and conulting gig etc. I'd call that vertical growth, growing Fred Wilson the VC brand deeper, in other media.
- Horizontally, you can always use the AVC blog and create (can't believe I'm gonna say this) as a community for other VCs who might want to have an online presence and profile but not necessarily have a blog that they regularly update etc. They can do what blogging allows someone to do, but under an umbrella called AVC. From there, the sky is the limit, since you would have the leading social community of financing professionals. Of course, will others let their egos aside and sign up to AVC, probably... because it's not mutually exclusive. They can have a personal blog and become part of a social network, too.
Again, before everyone blasts me, I'm a marketing/sales/biz guy so I'll find something growth wise in anything, dare I say it even magazines and newspapers. There's clearly pro and cons to anything, and some ideas are not practical once you actually look at if further... but the anwswer to "is AVC a growth opportunity is yes."
Oh, and I don't think that you should really measure your blog's success in sheer numbers. As a well-known VC, you probably have the most read, most successful blog so when measured by influence, you are top 100, maybe even top ?
Not all bloggers - or blogs - are created equally, after all.
Posted by: ashkan karbasfrooshan | Jul 1, 2007 3:36:58 PM
Hey Fred,
Throw an "in" into that last sentence. It'll tie the room together nicely.
Posted by: Cameron Koczon | Jul 1, 2007 3:53:17 PM
if burnout is setting in, even sporadically, maybe it is time to add another writer or voice or two?
Posted by: Steve Kane | Jul 1, 2007 7:23:52 PM
seems like a case of blogitis .. im sure itll pass ...
Posted by: simon | Jul 1, 2007 8:35:48 PM
Quit being so hard on yourself. Look at it like an entrepreneur: In less than four years you've successfully penetrated 90% or more of the currently available Fred Wilson blog-market and are exploring numerous options to ensure future market growth :-)
Posted by: fewquid | Jul 2, 2007 12:49:53 AM
Hi Fred,
It's about quality, not quantity. If you want quantity, start blogging about Paris Hilton ... If you want to talk about "venture capital, technology, music, new york city, and whatever else interests me" you've got a smaller audience by default. And on the web, that can be a very good thing.
~G~
Posted by: George Nimeh | Jul 2, 2007 6:55:18 AM
Thanks for sharing the info...shows me I have a long way to go.... As someone said above, it's quality over quantity...and speaking as a newbie blogger who probably has no real background to say this: I think the paradign for blogging is not high growth but highly targeted readers which means highly targeted advertising/content opportunities.
Posted by: Aruni | Jul 2, 2007 10:21:28 AM
I think you are dwelling on a single statistic without much analytical follow-through.
Q1. Why do you blog?
Is it to build a web-empire or a mental exercise that helps you think through problems you confront?
(given you donate all proceeds to charity and have a "day job" I think most readers would say it's the later)
Q2. What market research/marketing plan have you implemented?
What do you think is the total audience for a vc based blog?
Is it 1mm people or 100,000?
If the latter, then you have very significant market penetration!!! Rock on!
If the former, what strategies have you implemented to reach those people??
If you are writing for personal reasons, what does it matter?
Posted by: dblankley | Jul 2, 2007 10:29:06 AM
More important than anything written on this blog or any other is the confirmed revelation that Joe Perry did NOT in fact play the absolutely shredding lead guitar on “Train Kept a Rollin” on Aerosmith’s “Get Your Wings” album. This is like finding out you were adopted on your 40th birthday. Jackson and Chrispy peeped me to this “conspiracy theory” some time ago, but after 30 years of picturing in my head Joe leaning back and ripping my ears apart with that most sublime guitar onslaught on that tune, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe it. Now we know and it ain’t Oliver Stone hype. No taking away from Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, it remains some of the most brilliant lead work of the 70’s and certainly the best version of that tune ever recorded (MUCH better than the original).
I need a drink…
Posted by: Tony Alva | Jul 2, 2007 10:31:52 AM
Fred,
I think blogging should be taken exactly what it is - a new form of communication that allows individuals to voice their thoughts and opinions to interested communities. I do not agree with or like the moniker "citizen journalism", because it implies something that blogging is not - journalism.
This is not to say I am against this medium - I am highly interested in what you have to say. This is not unlike a conversation between two people, one (being you) willing to espouse on your thoughts and ideas on various subjects, and your audience responding with thoughts of their own.
I have not read Keen's book, but from your summary of the premise, I'm not sure his fears are justified. I do not believe there is a zero sum intake of information - conversation leads to curiosity which leads people to seek other voices. There have been many times that a book or artist has been mentioned in a blog, which led me to purchase or at least get more information - Keen's book is a good example.
I will draw a line on one point - nothing read in a blog should be taken as fact, a point should be clear to any reader.
Posted by: DCarrozza | Jul 2, 2007 10:33:13 AM
"taking a whipping for various positions I've taken on this blog" goes with the territory Fred. I hope you keep writing this blog because it's one of my favorites--even when you're flat out wrong.
We live in an Age of Disagreement--which is crunchy for sure. And in this medium, more than others, readers tend to make personal attacks rather than attacking the argument, which raises one's blood pressure. It's still worth arguing ideas, though.
Posted by: Josh | Jul 2, 2007 2:49:08 PM
i heard an interview with andrew on NPR. i don't think his position makes much sense. it seems he is just trying to be controversial.
i don't plan to read the book. his idea can be communicated in a form much shorter than a book (say a blog post or an article).
from what i heard in the interview i was not impressed.
Posted by: avner ronen | Jul 2, 2007 8:17:37 PM
Fred, may be little consolation, but your blog has been instrumental in getting me off the 'couch' and into the new web with a new start-up. I was a web 1.0 guy with fading relevance (ex AOL executive). Your passion and curiosity inspired me to get back in the game. Thanks.
Posted by: greg | Jul 3, 2007 11:45:29 PM
I've listened to Andrew talk with Dr. Moira Gunn on Tech Nation and I think his view is a bit narrow: he's focusing on lack of financial benefits of blogging and argues that bloggers will end up selling out and misinforming the public. Most bloggers I know are not looking to turn their site into a serious source of income and would not risk their off-line credibility by compromising their integrity online. (Many benefits of blogs are well known to your readers so I don't feel like I need to even mention them here)
Posted by: a.g. | Jul 5, 2007 11:01:59 AM
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