There are many different reasons people blog — reflecting more and learning are good examples of common reasons to blog. A few weeks ago, I was listening to a (pre-recorded) session where Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book, was talking about time-limited blogs.
While the session was about a year old, I was still very surprised at the number of people (and these are people who would participate in a session about blogging) still didn’t really understand the difference between forums and blogs. As is usually the case with communication, it’s easy to blame those being communciated to for not understanding.
But I’d say the lack of understanding probably comes more from a lack of clear communication on what a blog actually is (versus a forum, or a non-blog site). Personally, I very rarely refer to my site as a blog — I don’t often find that there’s a useful difference by distinguishing it as a blog.
What really caugth my interest in Debbie’s talk though, was the growing interest she had identified in time-limited corporate blogging. This is where a company takes a specific issue or event and creates a blog around it that only lasts for a given amount of time (which could be anywhere from a few weeks to a year or more).
While there’s certainly no shortage of blogs that eventually just die off (which usually happens with a whimper, rather than a bang) — these blogs are intentionally set to self-destruct.
My initial thoughts was that this must be such a let-down for people who subscribe to the site — knowing that one day a site you enjoy reading is going to be gone.
But when I thought about this some more, rather than setting your readers up for disappointment, you’re actually setting realistic expectations. Being a content creator is tough (even in the short time I’ve been writing, I’ve found it tough to stick to a regular posting schedule).
By establishing realistic expectations with your readers, they’ll come back when you launch your next issue- or event-specific blog. This way, you keep the focus of your blog targeted and specific, rather than just dumping content into a site because you feel you have to.
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May 16th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
That’s a great summation. I’ve often experienced that sense of loss or worry when a blog I’ve got used to goes dark. And in a business sense, something which often starts off with a fanfare then slacks off to one post a month, then every couple of months, then nothing…Better never to have started!When talking to colleagues or employers who work with our organization, I always try and emphasise that doing a blog is hard, regular work - it takes commitment and enthusiasts. The idea of time-limited blogs probably isn’t something we’ve looked at in terms of the student focused events we’ve run - and we should! Thanks for putting it on my ‘to-do list’. (Next stop: rememberthemilk…)
May 17th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Thanks Michael. Creating (and maintaining) a blog is certainly a great deal of hard work — and it’s not for everyone. I think a time-limited blog is also a good way for people who are new to blogging to get their feet wet as well — that way you don’t get tired of what you’re doing just as you’ve begun blogging.
I hadn’t heard of Remember the Milk! Thanks for mentioning this — it looks like a cool service that would have some interesting uses.
May 19th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Solid post. Although, I have to admit, when I read the title I thought this was going to be your last post or something. I’ve got to go back and read it again and try and digest it a bit more now that I’m not worried lol.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:46 am
interesting post. thanks for sharing with us your thoughts on this topic.
May 29th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Very nice post…. blogging has yet to really catch on with a large number of corporates around the world. I feel once this happens we would truly feel the power of knowledge sharing at an organization level.
Keep the posts coming, its a real pleasure reading through your articles..
Cheers,
Arjun.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Arjun, it’s always nice to get encouragement! I’m glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed the site. Please feel free to comment more, it’s great to hear back from folks.