Talking in a bar, late the other day, I encountered the latent extremist in myself when it came to web communications and marketing.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that a lot of what bloggers, podcasters, et cetera, do is marketing, though in a very bootstrapper kind of way. As such, I’ve found myself becoming mighty interested in web trends. Seeing where people are going in terms of fashion and style is always something I was fairly adept at, so the above does feel kind of like an extension to that.
But back to my hidden extremist: Discussing web conversations, Cluetrain-style, in a bar the other night, I found myself saying (having only inbibed a few pints), “Why not even, in the long term, eliminate the concept of the ‘official website!’ No one takes that seriously anyway!” The idea being, people’s conversations on blogs, mailing lists (et cetera), are so much more authentic and valuable to the visitor than the official website, which is usually nothing but ‘brochure-ware’ (to quote a recent acquaintance of mine). Forget if the discussion is positive or negative – it’ll be negative if the products is shit, and it’ll be positive if their products are great. But let’s get people talking.
If you heard this recent interview, you’ll hear me saying that I am about discussion, whether it be people trash talking me or praising me; as long as they are talking, that’s the goal. On my weblog, the only rule is that, if you want to say something negative, even if it’s not constructive at all, leave an email address in the field reserved for it. A real one. Then you can say whatever you want, and I’ll leave it there unless it’s 100% pure troll meat. So there you go.
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