BLOGthenticity

Do you recall how 2005 was supposed the year of the business blog?

As it stands I’m possibly more inclined to think that it may have been the Chinese year of the business ox or something. 2005 is almost half way through and I’ve yet to see a blog stampede.

But the thing that concerns me is the state of the UK business blogosphere. It really doesn’t exist in any tangible form. Alex Bellinger got me thinking about this in a little post he did at Ecademy.

He cites Anita Campbell’s article about 16% of American SMEs planning on utilising a blog in the next couple of years, but can only come up with two UK business blogs: English Cut and The Tinbasher. Stuart Bruce manages to pluck another couple out of the hat, but then we’re struggling. For good measure, I’ll throw Steelstrip World in there too.

Whilst we’re on topic, I’m going to dismiss English Cut and The Tinbasher out of the equation due to the fact that we’ve had more than our fair share of PR leg-ups. The majority of business blogs aren’t going to receive the same amount of blog-love from certain quarters as we’ve had. It might be the case for a few early adopters, but nobody will bat an eyelid once people are starting them up on a regular basis. If anybody decides on starting them up that is.

I’ve been plugged shamelessly by the likes of Jackie Danicki and Tom Mahon is the blogging poster boy for Hugh Macleod. I’m not ungrateful by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think the attention received completely skews the overall picture.

Why is there such a reluctance in Blighty? We started the industrial revolution and now have the best broadband coverage in the world. It’s not as if we ‘don’t do’ business or can’t get connected to the internet. Granted, we’ve got shit teeth, but polished pegs aren’t really that important when it comes to blogging.

British folk aren’t quite the same as our American cousins. We tend to be far more reserved, both on a personal and business level. We’re the land of the stiff upper lip that’s reluctant to take too many risks. We’re also a nation of cynics who have a highly developed ‘hypometer’.

From this little generalisation it’s quite apparent how anti-blog we really are. I’m also at a bit of a loss as to how we’re going to rectify this. Especially if we take into account that the two prominent UK blogs are nothing more than good blogging PR - it’s good publicity for us and we’re good publicity for them.

I also think that with great publicity comes great responsibility. If you’re thrown out there for whatever reason then it’s only proper that you should then be willing to help spread the word. I’ve seen articles claiming that it would be hard for other tailors to have the same authority as English Cut. Obviously this is bollocks. The best person to get other tailors to blog is another tailor. My finest moment was when Steelstrip World started up and claimed The Tinbasher was a ‘revelation’ to him and one of the inspirations behind him starting a blog. Now he’s an authority. It comes with the territory. I also get quite a few of his dregs.

Business blogs need to create niches within their own industry and they also need to support one another on a wider level. Being the first doesn’t automatically make you the best and it certainly shouldn’t make you the last. Blogging is much more about specific business ethics than it is about getting ahead of the competiton even if the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

It’s up to us actually doing the business blogging to make and state our own case rather than have others do it for us. We know what works and we’re the true pioneers whether we like it or not. I think we get blinded by the attention at times - blog rabbits in the blog headlights. We’re the ones who are really doing the driving. Let’s not get sidetracked by gormless media asking stupid questions and hapless consultants wanting to claim us as their own.

Who’s with me?

Filed under: BLOGthenticity, Business Blogging, Paul