Three years ago, when I started this blog, I found time each weekend to sit in a cafe and read. I always brought a variety of books and magazines and would alternate from article to chapter, sometimes taking notes. It seemed like an arduous process, but it was my patented way of extracting ideas that were dormant but very much alive. Creative thought can often hibernate like a bear in the winter. This material that I read--be it a business book or a woman's magazine--was like a sizzling steak laid under my nose. It woke me up and let me stretch my muscles. Often the blog posts that resulted bore no resemblance to the copy that inspired it. The point was not to riff off of these books and articles, but to allow them to trigger something totally unique.
I get bored with blog content that simply riffs off of other content, even though there are content providers who do very well with this tactic. Let's be realistic: we need interpreters and evaluators of original content, but I didn't begin blogging with an eye toward keywords to embed, or A-List bloggers to emulate, in my content; I did it to extract ideas that I suspected I had, but that I hadn't given a chance to manifest. Hopefully, some of these ideas would be needed.
I bring this up for several reasons, one which is purely observational and the other personal (read: entrepreneurial): It would make sense that in its adolescence the Blogosphere has begun to resemble the landscape of its predecessor, traditional media. You have your "premium" original content providers, your riffers and referrers to original content which provide us with the benefit of aggregated premium content, and your equivalent of syndicators, or "repurposers" of content. And in the process of this maturation, or de-maturation depending on how you look at it, the proportion of original to repurposed content decreases. In technical terms, more of the same shlock gets put out there. Much of this shlock was once gold, but as a concept gets re-generated over and over, it loses its luster. I can watch the same episodes of Seinfeld or The Sopranos only so many times. I can read only so many takes of the same meme before it fizzles.
Talking about blog technique with Britt Bravo the other day, we both confessed that we didn't actually practice what we preached when it came to writing down ideas for future blogging. It seems that whenever I do this I've lost interest by the time I sit down to write. The effect is a lack of consistent coverage of current or important events, but the benefit of content that has current relevance to me.
This concept of original vs. repurposed content resonates with me on a personal level because it applies to my entrepreneurial endeavors. If BlogHer is a unique concept, it must continue to be a "premium" content, or concept, provider--we can't get too absorbed in the logistics of what we are doing, or the need to monetize it, that we lose sight of the original generator of ideas that inspired it. We grew organically from women's original voices and from a process of continual feedback with the women's blogging community, and this piece must be retained, above all else, or we lose our value proposition. It's something the founders are always cognizant of--the need to keep our pilot light on, at all costs, despite the competing demands of growing a business.
Yet its easy to fall into the trap of not changing it up, of not exploring for new inspiration. For one thing repurposing saves time. On an efficiency level it makes sense to regurgitate the same ideas, but do this too much and you risk innovation--your edge. You can only widgetize ideas so much before we all start spewing the same headlines.
I had ample time to ponder this on a trip I took this week to Israel, to speak at the The Globes Internet & Communications Conference in Tel Aviv. Some people think it's borderline insane to fly 36 hours for a 1.5-hour engagement. And with all that I needed to handle back at home after my last trip, I couldn't stay for more than 24 hours. But I honor my commitments and frankly was excited to see how concepts that were becoming old hat in my mind would resonate with new audiences. An interesting side effect from any of these engagements is that I end up coming away smarter, having recognized a new position in the world. I found the Israelis to be incredibly interested in how women are making their mark online, and I found myself rather captivated by the entrepreneurs I spoke with, who are inventing Web 2.0 applications that take into account user psychology as much as market demand. I had many "why didn't I think of that?" moments.
I must confess I was not relishing the idea of traveling so far in such a short timeline. For one thing I had serious work to do, email to manage, meetings that were being held off, and...well... stuff, just a lot of stuff. And yet, somewhere in the 15th hour of my 36-hour journey I started to see the underlying purpose of my visit. There in the back pocket of the seat in front of me, where I'd stuffed a novel I'd had for two years before cracking it open, and months-worth of Business 2.0s, now with articles ripped from the bindings, and a used notebook, I saw something that made sense. In this situation of prolonged confinement, I was being brought back to life.
There's a lot to reply to here but I'm going to go with the "user psychology as well as market demand". That is smart. It's why BlogHer works and why Twitter works and why a zillion other sites and tools and widgets and ideas don't work.
Posted by: Denise | June 24, 2007 at 02:21 PM
I tend to find writing from 1st person experiences can keep this fresh and more "conversational" converting ideas into original content. As an entrepreneur, we thrive on ideas, and taking risk where others would tell us we are "crazy".
As a newly minted blogger, I found your article to be thought provoking...
Andrew Kaplan
www.ewarrior.com (technology blog)
www.mediamensch.com (entertainment/media blog)
Posted by: Andrew Kaplan | June 24, 2007 at 08:05 PM
I've read your post over and over, even on different days, thus the late comment.
Is this what happens when a passion turned business starts to become more business than passion?
Another thought on how you define "premium" as original. You may enjoy reading original content, eg: novels.
I enjoy reading opinion or humor, but it has to be short, Magazine, newspaper or blogs. Riffs you call them.
But I am not your target audience :p
Lastly, I agree about memes. I've done them, but since they are not my style, I find them hard to do well and therefore not fun.
Keep your pilot light on!
Posted by: GoingLikeSixty | July 07, 2007 at 07:28 PM
You bring up an issue I've been wondering about lately Jory.
Lately, I've started to wonder what the difference is between "repurposing" and just plain plagerism or stealing ideas from another writer. Seems to me the line is getting pretty blury. Is it the competition and wanting to have something to say or just creative laziness? By the time an idea is stollen, borrowed and contorted 100 times is it worth anything? Just because you create a link does it mean any blogger can take any thing they want at any time from any website that's out there? Is that ethical? My husband tells me this is okay in bloggerland, but it certainly doesn't "feel" okay to my journalistic integrity. It feels like plagerism. Though currently, I'm seeing every link to me as flattering.
Tracee Sioux
So Sioux Me
http://www.traceesioux.blogspot.com
BlogFabulous
http://www.blogfabulous.com
Posted by: Tracee Sioux | July 11, 2007 at 03:08 PM