The One Hundredth & First Blogger

Before submitting my essay to Jon Strande for the 100 Bloggers project, I want to reach out to you for feedback.

For those unaware, the purpose of the 100 Bloggers project is to showcase the connectedness of blogging/bloggers and to highlight the power of a networked conversation.

25 bloggers were originally invited to participate and they were asked to invite another blogger who in turn, invited another blogger who invited one more blogger until a total of 100 bloggers were on board. We each have until March 1 to submit our 1,000 words (or less) essay which will be published online and offline in some capacity.

So … here is your invitation to provide feedback on my essay and to become the 101st blogger.

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Learning through Sharing
as submitted by johnmoore (from the Brand Autopsy blog)

From 10 to Tens of Millions …
Throughout my marketing career I’ve always been quick to share interesting articles with others. On Monday mornings back-in-the-day, I would usually find myself wrestling with the office copy machine to churn out double-sided copies of must-read articles from Fast Company, BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal, and stories from a variety of other sources. At that time, my distribution list consisted of only 10 co-workers.

These days I’m still sharing interesting articles with others, but the difference is my distribution list extends beyond 10 co-workers to tens of millions of people on the Internet.

Thanks to the expansive reach of blogs and to blogging’s ease-of-use, I no longer spend my Monday mornings slaving over a problematic copy machine to share interesting articles. Instead, blogging allows me to simply link to the article online and digitally Cc: the entire online world and not just Cc: my marketing co-workers.

See ya Cc: …
Cc: is short-hand language for carbon copy. Long before the emergence of word processors and photocopiers, typewriters ruled the written world and making carbon copies was the everyday way to share important documents with others.

To make a duplicate copy during the typewriter age, one had to slip a piece of carbon paper in between two pieces of paper and after finishing typing, one was left with an original copy and a carbon copy.

The original meaning of Cc: is irrelevant now, but its intent is highly relevant today. We use Cc: everyday when we send messages to multiple recipients through email. We even use Cc: as a verb as in ‘I Cc:’d so and so.’

But Cc: is so yesterday while Dc: is so today.

We’ve evolved from making carbon copies to creating digital copies. And through blogging, we can digitally Cc: the whole wide world.

Sharing to Learn …
The main reason I blog is to learn -- that’s because I learn by sharing. Conversation always follows sharing and inherent in any conversation is the art of listening and the act of responding.

When you share your opinions, thoughts, and influences with others on a blog post, it will usually generate comments. It’s through listening and responding to these comments that I learn most.

I learn when someone openly challenges my thoughts as it forces me to reevaluate my thinking. I also learn when someone adds their unique perspective by riffing off my perspective.

But before you can share to learn, you must learn to share.

Learning to Share …
Too many times we find it easier to keep our opinions, thoughts, and influences to ourselves. Blogging requires you to tear down barriers and be more transparent in sharing with others what you are passionate about.

The act of blogging has been characterized by some as being egotistical selfish musings. I could not disagree more.

Blogging is as selfless an act one can do. To blog is to be transparent. To blog is to open oneself up to being judged. To blog is to share. And to share is to learn.

The Virtuous Cycle of Sharing and Learning …
Blogging’s virtuous cycle of sharing to learn and learning to share has transformed how I receive information and how I am inspired by information. I credit this virtuous cycle to helping me make sharper, more strategic business decisions and in helping me to become a more consistent marketing mentor to others.

I invite you to join this conversation because the more people share, the more we all will learn.

If you are already blogging, I ask you to blog more often. If you haven’t started blogging, I ask you to begin. Together, we can make this virtuous cycle even more virtuous when more of us share to learn and more of us learn to share.

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Have some comments? Please share so I can learn.

Comments

[jbr]

good essay...surprising that you would know about 50s writing technology/terms. if nothing else you have enlightened the teen/sub 30 demographic about the origin of cc:

for me, blogging provides an outlet for my personality. like a person who enjoys sending/receiving letters, i enjoy the process of written interaction. however, unlike a letter, blogs can provide relative immediacy in terms of responsiveness and understanding. also, with blogging, i can learn so much more from many different viewpoints.

i really believe blogging should become a required course in any communication and/or writing curriculum. eventually, courses in blog writing will also appear in literature curriculums as well. with over 7 million blogs and counting, it's definitely a force to be experienced and understood.

[johnmoore (from brandautopsy)]

jbr ... I hear ya on the value of blogs providing diverse perspectives from which the reader can form a more enlightened perspective.

re: Cc: ... While it may be more correct to write it as 'Cc:' ... it looks weird. Of the following three choices, which works best?

Cc:
CC:
cc:

[Focus]

Is tedious vebosity one of the requirements?

[johnmoore (from brandautopsy)]

Focus ... help me to understand what you mean by tedious verbosity.

By no means do I want this essay to be tedious and/or verbsoe. So please share specific feedback so I can learn how to make this essay less tedious and less verbose.

And, which style 'Cc:' do you think works best -- Cc: or CC: or cc:?

Thanks.

[Sue Pelletier]

One of the things I love about blogging, in addition to what you say in your essay, is that it has made me expand my reach. Since I started blogging, I'm reading blogs about everything from technology to politics, general business to medicine--I go where I never would have before, and I'm a much richer person for it.

It is a visceral way of seeing the interconnectedness of all these different topics, how they riff off each other and expand conversations from, say, marketing topics to the meetings and hospitality business (my area). It's amazing to see how it all intersects, reconnects, spins out, and enriches us all when we share our passion for something.

It's definitely worth the hours I spend digging through my RSS feeds. I would encourage all bloggers, if they aren't already, to expand their reading outside of their immediate area of interest--that's where it starts getting really interesting.

P.S. I like the lower-case cc.

[jbr]

lower case cc: is the accepted format...more verbose and tedious people may use carbon copy:, but most everyone is familiar with cc:

not to be confused with the band 10 cc...interesting story about their name...i would provide the story, but would hate to verve off into the land of too many syllables...

one comment before i go...good blog comment etiquette requires that once the blog owner requests feedback, the commenter really should respond...john, hopefully, focus pocus will illuminate us with a concise essay. cheers!

[beachbum]

look at outlook, Cc is what ihave always be accustommd to.

[johnmoore (from brandautopsy)]

Beachbum ... that's exactly the reason I went with 'Cc:' However, I don't think 'Cc:' is as aesthetically pleasing as 'cc:' is.

[focus]

As jbr notes, etiquette requires a response. Will try to keep it brief, however.

The whole bit about how much easier it is to copy and share, for example. Let's see. We went through that when Xerox technology became common. We went through it when faxes became common. We went through it when the Internet took off. We need it again? It is the sort of thing I might write if I didn't have anything to say but were asked to write 1,000 words.

The first three paragraphs of "sharing to learn," for example. Does the incremental evolution of that thought justify saying it three times in different colors (figurative colors)? Listening is learning. And especially if what you are hearing is feedback. Hence the value of blogging to the blogger. That's enough.

But then it gets repeated yet again to explain what the virtuous cycle is -- for those readers who had not figured out where the essay was going.

Personal background: I am a translator. Mainly politics. And a lot of the stuff I translate is the same way. Tell them what you are going to say. Say it. Tell them what you said. Remind them. Which may be fine (albeit tedious) for spoken forms when listeners cannot go back But in writing? Tighten it up, please.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Focus ... thanks for loosening up your "Is tedious vebosity one of the requirements?" comments. I now better understand your point. As a marketer and not a writer, I aspire to write better ... so thanks for your savvy comments.

Focus, do you have a blog for us to learn from? You have much to share and thus we have much to learn from you.

[focus]

Thanks to johnmoore for the kind comments. No, I do not have a blog. Lots of opinions, but no blog. Mainly because I do not think I have the energy to sustain it with usefully provocative information and comments. Vastly admire the people who do, but I don't.

[wendy]

i like the lower case, does it show?

what if companies blogged to each other? what if they learned and shared information more freely? and what if they let us in on it?

[Jodee]

I love blogging, even though (or perhaps because) I'm still learning about the width, depth and breadth blogging provides.

For example, I've learned so much already from this thread. I know from my communications studies that words themselves comprise a mere 7% of the total communication package (38% is vocal and 55% is visual) and I've learned how easy (and how dangerous) it is to infer my own meaning from the mere words I read.

Thank you, Focus, for being so honest with your feedback about John's original essay. I have often found myself avoiding posting comments on blogs because the words themselves can so often be misinterpreted, especially when written with intangibles like sarcasm or attempts at subliminal humor. If we read the words (7% of the total message) and attach our own meaning and context, we might misinterpret the intent - or inadvertently "say" something that can be misconstrued despite our best intentions. However, that also makes this world of blogging so fun and unpredictable.

So - everyone - keep blogging, keep sharing, keep teaching and we'll all keep learning.

[Charlie]

I think your essay is spot on but I would like to suggest that you take it a step further. Blogging is about an exchange of ideas, about learning. By laying yourself open you allow me the reader to get a small feel for your personality and to tailor messages that I think you might be interested in. It allows you to know other bloggers better than the co workers you used to photocopy for. In return they know you better and can tell you about things that interest you more. It is like the tradition of magicians swapping tricks. An equal exchange of targeted interest.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Charlie ... thanks. I've tweaked my essay a bit to better reflect your comment of how blogs function as an exchange of ideas. Good add. Thanks.

By the way, your Grapevine blog will help to make this virtuous cylce more virtuous. Blog on Charlie, blog on.

[Christy]

I like this idea of learning and sharing through blogs. I rarely comment on blogs even though I often have something to say. Perhaps I should consider it if I could add value.

I like that blogs can lead me in unexpected directions. I started reading other blogs to learn more about things happening in NYC. Since then, I've gone to events, met bloggers, and written for other people's sites. I found this blog through a random link. Now I visit regularly to learn more about marketing since I kind of fell into the business.

In many ways, I'm still new to blogging. I wrote my first blog a few years ago when I went traveling overseas, but stopped when I returned. I've been posting to my new-ish blog more consistently, but I'm still waiting for a theme to emerge or to see what it will become.

[Michael]

John, thank you for sharing your thoughts. They reminded me of what Mortimer Adler use to refer to as "the great conversation" - he meant the great subjects that Western civilization has been reflecting on over the centuries. But now it is a conversation carried on by networked communities and not always "great".

Part of what "focus" said hit home too. I've spend a good deal of my life translating classical Greek and can think of a few authors that mastered "tedious vebosity".

Overall it is still a new medium for discourse. We're still learning how the medium effects the conversation. Blogs are a wonderful start. And I for one admire anyone that will try and write themselves clear in front of the world.

[chronicler]

John, I have enjoyed brandautopsy for a little over a year. It provides the information you speak of so well. You see, I like you, am an information junky. I love articles. I love learning and then sharing what I learn. I have spent years ripping articles from magazines and publications to copy and pass along to colleagues. Then I file them away by category so I can refer back to them when some simple inquiry comes up reagrding specific subjects.

The reason I am immersed in the blogging community is just that. It is a community of people who are willing to share information, without cost. It creates neighborhoods. I may never travel abroad, however, I have many friends who do and I learn from the experiences they share with everyone else. It is, as you say, learning to share. People become people again, instead of anonymous masses.

From the teletype machines I used at my first real job (a large corporation,purchasing worldwide products), to the internet, has been quite the journey.

Blogging makes a large world small.