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Authority Blogging? Surely not I, YOU?

So Chris Garrett and Liz Strauss have launched a compelling contest which focuses on helping folks understand what it takes to be an authority blogger. This is a great opportunity to drive awareness for the SOBCon08 and Authority Blogger and represents a great opportunity for the community to collaborate. Authority Blogging conjures up a lot of things for me and probably for you as well – personalities, brands and even individual posts which have influenced your understanding. There is just a bunch ways to look at this topic and to position oneself as an authority blogger.

Narrowing Authority

There may be more than a little game theory in folks responses and I spent some time looking at folks posts. This project has already delivered some amazing insights from the participants and it is clear that it is GAME ON!

Content, topics and perceived value are all part of the authority puzzle. Spatially Relevant is a great opportunity for me to share experiences and develop relationships with folks I would not have otherwise and is the main reason I’m even blogging. There is no shortage of opportunity for me to share great content from folks’ I interact with via social media. Y’all provide great tweets and posts to write on. Each authority I follow provides an interesting lens for looking at the segment. It’s the diversity of views in this segment which is completely amazing. I just hope that I can add to the discussion. To that end, I suspect a person’s personal biases can ultimately drive authority.
With at least a directional understanding of authority, it is important to clearly understand the rules of this game should YOU want to participate as well. I’m very appreciative of the contest, since I have been struggling to find something to blog on since my muses aren’t here right now. I now have a topic AND I could get some cool things. What you ask? Here’s the cool stuff:

SOBCon Competition

  1. $1000 budget to pay for SOBCon08 registration and travel expenses
  2. A hour of consulting with Chris Garrett.
  3. The complete Authority Blogger online course.
  4. Meet the speakers.

It’s About the Booty

A fabulous prize package indeed! I’m motivated – YOU? Wait, wait – THAT’S NOT ALL! You can also get a guest blog piece on New Music Strategies and since Music is a tertiary theme here – I couldn’t resist to participate now — like a bug to a flame.


So what is the correct way to tackle this topic? That is now the increasingly more important question which I’m looking to close on by the end of this post. Folks are creating diagrams and generating comprehensive lists in their responses. I’m probably not going to do a list, since Confident Writing has 12 GREAT inspirational items. The great ideas from the folks which is making it difficult to decide on how to write on authority blogging and differentiate.

Vinzinni

 

Bob Younce has an excellent overview on his authority and an about page which was fairly intriguing for me. As a geographer, I am completely interested in where he is from, since he only references mid-Michigan. What is mid-Michigan? Bob’s post has successfully reminded me of a paper I’ve never wrote on what is the definition of the frequently used term “Up North”. Authority bloggers have a unique ability to start conversations and actively participate in conversations with others.

 

Ain’t too Proud to Pander

I am a little too proud to brag and may never be an Ego on Alltop, but I’m not to proud to suck up. Hmm… sucking up as a component of Authority? So I may have a chance on this whole thing, since this is in fact a core competency for me.

 

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The above image in fact is a subtle suck up, since Chris likes images and has a Canada birth connection. While my vacations to the Bruce Peninsula aren’t as authoritative as Hart’s “Canadian-ness”, but I did co-author a piece on “Canadian regionalism’s impact on the media: A content analysis”, which should raise my Canadian street cred. So I got that going for me… Let’s see how that works….

 

 

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Building out the concept of authority blogging is a great topic to work on from a project perspective. The great insights on influence and authority which have already been surfaced and are yet to come out of this contest are the key drivers for my wanting to participate in the discussion.

So what is Authority Blogging and why should I be considered an authority blogger? I’m not sure authority blogging is any one thing, or that I’m even able to meaningfully opine on why it should be me, but there are a 3 things which I feel authority blogging is not about:

  1. Ego: I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that ego’s can drive traffic, but not influence. I find myself linking to really insightful content from non-ego folk who provide a thought provoking take on a subject.
  2. The amount/size of Content: Very often the amount of content is confused with authority. Some of the most authoritative things online are published in under 140 characters on twitter and isn’t a fleshed out, but a query or insight which makes you THINK.
  3. It is NOT a metric: Not links, not technorati ranks, not page views. A single post can be more influential than anything – where is YOURS?

So if authority isn’t driven from those things, it only leaves me with two things it might be or that I might have. A passion to share and willingness to engage. It would be great to do an interview and to get some open feedback on how to improve my blogging from Chris, but it would for anyone.   Authority is as authority does and below are some folks YOU should know and who should participate too:

 

 

March 30, 2008 by
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Registration Reflections: PodCamp Atlanta

So I’ve spent the better part of the day yesterday trying to register to be able to edit the wiki page and declare my participation. Not an easy process for many reasons – internet up and down, had no idea how to obtain an invite key. So with a little help from Brogan, since it appears he knows something about it and I’m IN! BTW – Chris gives real good technical support – courteous, prompt and succinct.

So what is PodCamp? I had to explain this to Emily, just like she had to explain the water barrel class she went to, so I thought I would just provide a primer on PodCamp, as I understand it. So what is it? Why it’s an unconference of course! Despite all the hype that there is NO structure, It’s a Semi structured event focused on sharing information within the social media community in a open forum. There is apparently drinking as well.

The structure of the event, minimally the content, develops organically based on registration declarations – Session Leader, Participant, Sponsor. Being a newbie, I’ll just participate @ the Emory hosted event on March 16-18th. So with my inability to clear the first geek bar of REGISTRATION without help, I’m confident the rest of the community experience will be cake, since the community governance model is fairly straight forward:

There are 6 main rules which govern what may or may not be called a PodCamp. Your planned event must meet all 6 requirements and sign off on this license in order to be called a PodCamp.

1. All attendees must be treated equally. Everyone is a rockstar. Likewise, registration should be open to the public and unrestricted, subject only to limitations of space.

2. All content created in and around the event must be released under a Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. This means that any recordings, video, pictures, podcasts, written documents, promos, and the like prepared for or recorded at the event must be licensed under the creative commons license. The Creative Commons License 3.0 is incorporated by reference.

3. All attendees are PARTICIPANTS. They are encouraged to lead sessions, speak on existing sessions, and contribute to the overall event experience. Organizers must make every possible concession to create an open speaking schedule, suitable for spontaneous participation. Everyone must be allowed to participate. (Subject to limitations of physical space and time, of course). This means that the speaker’s list must allow open registration and must not restrict who is allowed to speak.

4. All sessions must obey the Law of 2 Feet – if you’re not getting what you want out of the session, you can and should walk out and do something else. It’s not like you have to get your money’s worth!

5. The event must be new-media focused – blogging, podcasting, video on the net, social media and any other new media formats.

6. The financials of a PodCamp, including details about sponsorship money and how said funds were used, must be fully disclosed in an open ledger, to the PodCamp Foundation.

3 days will be tough, but the open discourse should be fun. I have a hard time at a 3 day MSFT conference and you typically get a cool show with Duran Duran or another not so currently “in” band, but not a lot of communication. The good news is the first night is just beer at a pub and the event schedule isn’t too daunting, but the registrants list is – almost 200. Since the list IS publicly available, I did some research on the registrants to better understand the GA/ATL blogging landscape a little more:

Jen Gordon – True Gritz and a not so current blog. Her year old lament about a bloke from the UK who snagged “her designs” reminds me of who’s cribbing. It is however; theoretically possible he randomed into a header, main and 3 column footer on his own.

Right Rev Chumley – I had an old english sheep dog in college named chumley. I didn’t have time to watch an old school short which is front ended in crazy, but you might.

Heather Smith – Honest little intro.. Cool little mashup information architecture. Indie chick music – right on.

Buzz Brockway – Apparently republican, I think. He asserts McCain can beat Obama in a recent post. Per the post $13.40 is the current definition of a living wage has gone up from the $10 I previously endorsed as a workers world card holder – circa 1992.

Clearly an eclectic group! These folks are considerably more passionate, creative, diverse and artsy than I would have thought. The wonders of community!

Lesson learned: I guess I shouldn’t use my sterile and benign musings as a fair representation of the market entry requirements for social media.

YUP, I am sooo out of my league – I think I’ll wear black – it makes me look taller. But then I realized it was for last year… what a waste

March 2, 2008 by
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He’s at it AGAIN!!!!!

So Brogan has once again “sucked me in” to write on one of HIS topics for ME/YOU. This time, he doesn’t have 100 – but 20 works. I’ll usurp one right now and 2 more look interesting, should I remember at a later date. So I chose #3 for a start.

#3. Share Five Friends– Show us five friends’ blogs and give us a blurb on why you like them.

This is a very interesting one, because normally I pass off a Chris (chris 1 and chris 2) blog on such request. The good news is I have no shortage of cool peoples blogs 5 blogs, 1 is loosely a “blog”, it has blog like capabilities and even has features called a blog, but I don’t consider myspace a pure play blog.

Salesreformschool

This is Adam Shapiro’s blog and he’s continues to keep up the content and actually shares some really good, practical, and pragmatic insights from his sales management, consulting and sales education experience. He’s also starting to meander off topic now which is getting more interesting – while I disagree with his assertion that the Blackberry Pearl is a good device, I do agree with him on google desktop.

mophopro

Mark Resch’s phone game and blog. It’s nice to see things from people’s phones. I don’t know this for sure, but I think mophopro stands for MObile PHOto PRO. COMmunity. The idea is phone photos – fun. The Cathedral in Venice

Launchclinic

David Daniels’ Product Launch blog. The business side of product management and product launch – he’s always been off topic and fun as person and as a blog operator. He’s the father of twins – like myself, and has an absolute passion for understanding information, organizations and products. He’s just one of those dangerous “knowledge consumers”. Good news is he simplifies and prioritizes his content to remain relevant and interesting, as a person and as a blog operator.

Stop, Drop and Roll

So it’s not really a blog, but it IS A CONVERSATION – a rowdy “yeeehaaw!” kind of conversation, but a conversation. What I like is they do have a desire to reach out and develop a community, plus the crazy clutter, background bluegrass and the “near seizure causing” look-n-feel is apparently NOT AN ISSUE. Not sure it proves anything, but graphics, easily read content and an appropriate use of negative space may just not mean anything.

Vacuum – EV in A2

I have not actually met Edward yet, but I intend on it on my next visit into A2, hoped to catch him over the holidays, but haven’t. This is a link blog – the interesting and the obscure. It’s more than links, more or less basically links, sometimes a paragraph or two. This guy works at his links. I recommend an interest in libraries and geography before you go, but you might just become a fan of either before you stop browsing the links. If you look real hard you just might find some interesting stuff on structuration theory.

Those are my five……but you could keep checking Leif’s blog, as I do hoping for another post. It has been more than a year of silence. I mean he took such care with the header graphic. You would think the Chris would have a corporate posting requirement at Cerado.

February 25, 2008 by
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