According to Guy Kawasaki, I do pretty much everything wrong in a blog post. I write too much, I avoid numbered lists that are too neat and pat and I don't try to condense everything down to spoonfuls of Pablum (C) for easy digestion. Hey, I do eye tracking. I know that Guy's suggestions make for faster scanning for someone looking for a quick information bite. But is fast and easy what everyone is looking for?
Blogs are where I work out thoughts, opening them up to the public. And a lot of those thoughts (like the
ones last week, or my post on the
Intel brain chip) don't fit in nice little numbered lists. Sorry Guy. If you're looking for a quick bite, graze on elsewhere. I prefer large chunks of partially digested ideas.
I think the Internet has
jammed far too many numbered and bulleted lists down our gullet. I think someone has to provide content that a few people are willing to spend some time over and ponder. I want people to think a little. I don't want a grocery list of simple to implement ideas that you can tack to your fridge. That's what everyone does. I want to do something different. I think more people should do the same. I suspect the internet is carving our brain into tiny little pieces that are incapable of grappling with anything that requires an attention span longer than that of a gnat.
Look at the really great ideas of the world and the people who expressed them. Sure, there are some lists and quick quips (the Golden Rule, the 10 commandments) but there are also long essays and treatises. The world needs both.
Guy gets a lot more readers than I do, so I'm sure if I was looking for pure quantity, I'd do well to follow his advice. But I blog because I have a voice and ideas I want to share. They may not meet Guy's guidelines for a perfect blog post, but you know what? I'm okay with that.