Multiple Gaming Paths in Blogging
Oh the morning of Jan 25th, I was the inaugural guest in the dry-run of Ed Vielmetti's new Social Media Roundtable conference call. We were discussing something you've seen a lot of in this blog: Blog Analytics. Ed now works for Pure Visibility, an SEO firm in Ann Arbor.
A few months ago, Ed introduced me to 103 Bees and I've written more than a few posts about how to incorporate that into blog management.
But it's brought home to me the role of gaming in blogging. Gaming is generally the manipulation of any factors that will enable you to achieve your goal. Gaming is value neutral - so when I talk about Gaming, it is amoral.
The thing is that blogs are not just used for Naked Conversation. They aren't just used for e-commerce. They aren't just used to find a date. They aren't just used to talk about how tall your baby is today.
Blogs are conversation. Conversation can be one-way or two-way. And conversation usually has a purpose.
Blogs, it seems to me, can be gamed for several things, including:
- Raw number of hits
- Types of readers
- Comments
- To start, continue or join discussions
- To get linked to by others
- To meet or attract specific people
- To gain knowledge
- To engender opportunity
- To get recognition or fame
- To sell things
- To get high google rankings
And that's certainly not a definitive list.
Tools like 103Bees, HitTail, Google Analytics, MyBlogLog, and StatCounter provide information on how one might game any or all of these. The strategies to win at each game vary. But in the end, you have a goal in mind and you use these tools to help achieve those goals (to win).
It's up to you whether you play the game honestly or dishonestly.
Blogged at Gray Hill Harbor Offices in Seattle using Windows Live Writer
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