Comments on: Why Blog – Not for Press Releases

By: Dave Jilk

Dave Jilk — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 05:22:31 +0000

Wow, only five months living inside Boulder city limits and I’m already “anti-commercialism”, need to “wake up to reality,” and providing “half-cocked criticism”… sounds like I’m turning into a liberal!

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Fri, 11 Jun 2004 19:13:19 +0000

I don’t mind people plugging their stuff on their blogs. If I don’t feel like being reading their schpiel, I can move on to something else. You’re competing with 2 million other blogs for eyeballs, a lot of them written by really smart, engaging people. It’s a competitive market out there.

Remember back when you were a kid when there were only 3 TV channels, and you’d end up watching the Dukes Of Hazzard not because it was any good, but because it was the least of 3 evils (the other two being Lawrence Welk and Facts Of Life)? This guy forgets the blogosphere doesn’t have that trouble.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 19:30:09 +0000

I like Fred’s answer; his “house ads.”

The thing is…no one’s blog is going to satisfy someone else’s needs. Seth Godin is mostly an ad for himself…but it’s never boring, right?

By: Peter Caputa

Peter Caputa — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 14:08:37 +0000

I think this commenter suffers from “anti-commercialism”. I don’t understand how promoting your projects or portfolio is any less interesting than random thoughts.

A lot of work goes into executing an idea. More than goes into writing a rant. So, I actually think it is more interesting to see what a VC is funding and what projects/companies are executing and how they are executing.

There are a lot of people out there that don’t like it when people use blogs for commercial purposes. I think these people should just be happy on their part of the web. Or just wake up to reality: People need to make money to put food on the table.

I agree it is nice to get some commentary with a press release. But I certainly don’t mind “just” a link to a press release. And to equate publishing a press release to “spam” is absolutely ridiculous. This reader doesn’t have to subscribe and doesn’t have to visit your site if he doesn’t like it.

You do an excellent job on your weblog. I wouldn’t worry about a bit of half-cocked criticism.