Blogging revisited

I have long wondered about the hype surrounding blogging. Sure it's fun to be able to vent, rant or eloquently present your views to the world via the web. To let people know what is happening in your life, how your trip around the world is progressing or what your hobby can mean to other people. We all have fun using it that way. This blog is being read by maybe 40 people, that is not that much, but it's more than in the 'old world'.

But, and here it is, what I see when I look at blogging from a distance is bland drabbness. It is not about self expression to create diversity and new insight, it's about group think and the lowest common denominator. Blogging therefore is just a new means to virtually exhibit exactly the same behavior we show in our real life. I know I am going against the grain here, so here are two bloggers with whom I heartily agree and who can back up their opinion with research in the case of Geert Lovink and with business experience in the case of Werner Vogel.

Being clever instead of smart

We have had a week of guest blogging at the Dutch Marketing site www.molblog.nl. What strikes me is how important it is to be clever instead of smart. Both Mathijs and I have been writing articles on where we think Marketing is going and where it should be going. The resulting discussions showed two things.

The first is that it is apparently less about content then it is about words. In other words most of the responses are rhetoric. In a sense this is understandable, since most who respond are either columnists, or people who want to spread their own message instead of creating a debate on the merits of ours. Especially columnists have a need for sarcasm and the resulting controversy since they live of their ‘street credibility’. They also desperately need to have the last say! What strikes me is that the ones who want to spread their own message use the same mechanism of attacking the words saying we are wrong and then telling a 99% overlapping story in their own words, but with a different ending. Where we say: “Guys, it’s time for some reflection because the ship is sinking and we think this is the reason.” They say: “This is the reason, the ship is just changing course and everything is OK!” All the while, the evidence is staring them in the face and I have yet to see any argument based on content to support their version. It’s all words and isn’t that exactly what most people associate with Marketing?

The second is how easy it is to get caught in the moment and how tempting it is to join the fight instead of debate the issue. The rules of the game for blogging apparently have one that says that you win if you are better at the word game than your opponent. I may not like that rule, but it was very hard to resist since it was an easy way to draw attention to the resulting ‘discussion’. Real value wasn’t created, but the site definitely got more hits, so in that sense there is a rational behind the behavior.

When asked to blog on the site we were very clearly asked to not talk about Crossing Signals. We haven’t and yet one of the responders blamed us for trying to position our own consulting practice. First of all, what consulting practice? We are a network organization that practices what it preaches through setting up a community around innovation and create value together. And secondly why use such a demeaning tactic? Because he does not agree, or because he is scared we might be right? If it is the first, then it is not a valid argument that adds to the discussion. If it is the second, is it cognitive dissonance?

I think the same goes for innovation. To most people it is more important to be clever instead of smart. It is more important to confuse optimization with effectiveness and therefore associate it with innovation, than it is to really innovate and increase effectiveness. Why? Because, old habits die hard especially if they appear successful, and efficiency through cost cutting is successful in the short term.

Isn’t it a bit sad that what we have learned from the past week is: “If you can’t impress them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!”? Any ideas on being more clever so we can create value by being smart?