Back in the day when I worked for a weekly newspaper in New York, the dismal newsroom taught me something: not everything merits a front page 24 point headline treatment. There are some stories which are short, sweet, touching or simply quirky. People like reading them, just not on the front page. These nuggets of goodness, however tasty could only be treated as appetizers and not as an entree.
This message was hammered into me when I shifted to a more languid lifestyle – writing for monthly magazines, Red Herring first, and now Business 2.0. Despite a vociferous arguments, my editors point out that not every story is a cover story. Yet it is a story. So short, that it almost tastes like a hint of truffle oil in a fluffy salmon omelette. For instance, the Scratchless CD story in the latest issue of Business 2.0.
On the web, especially in the no-longer-so-new medium of blogs, I found myself wrestling with the same dilemma. The short links (aka Gigalinks) while did the job, they really ended up diluting the value of the feed that flows with my blog. The longer high-impact posts, that fostered a lot of conversation did not get enough time on the front page. In the end, that was very important for me: to tap into the collective intelligence of the community.
I wondered about this often times. While showing off his new start-up, Edgeio, Michael Arrington pointed out that he had faced the same quandary and that prompted him to start CrunchNotes, as an accompanying blog to his main property, Tech Crunch. Still not convinced, I decided to put the question to the GigaOm readers.
What do you think about a daily journal type blog on daily.gigaom.com where I can post random links, mutterings and other stuff that doesn’t fit the “broadband” label? Will you subscribe to yet another feed?
An overwhelming majority of the 303 voters, 57% were in favor of this decision, while 29% were dead against it. 14% simply couldn’t care. After thinking it over, I have decided that lot of short and snappy stuff (including my ridiculous beach photos) are going to have to be off-loaded on a side blog.
The new blog, unimaginatively called, The Daily Om, is now live at http://daily.gigaom.com. If you are interested in adding this to feedreader, all you have to do is click here. [] GigaOm, which is also getting help from seriously talented guest columnists is going to be reserved for high-impact stuff.
I feel sooner or later, many of us who are addicted to blogging, will have to set up the equivalent of Page 3 on their blogs. I am sure other are going to disagree, but my instincts tell me that I am right. Think of it as me applying the dolby filter to the content.
The main focus of this blog has been broadband, wireless, voice over the Internet, and broadband-influenced applications and socioeconomic changes. I am going to focus on all that because we are finally moving beyond the world of Sun Rocket, Vonage and instead moving into a more of a voice app world. There are just too many interesting start-ups, that are beginning to excite me again.
What will not change is the focus on scoops, and analysis. What will change: the web 2.0 launches or new features will move over to the new blog. I will be posting links to interesting stuff I find all over the web. No categories, just random thoughts, and links. Hope you will enjoy the journey and sign-up for the new blog as well.
om,
congrats on the new addition! i’ve already added it to my blogroll. i made a similar decision a couple months ago when i created a nortel blog (nortel.wordpress.com). it seems like more work having multiple blogs but it easier to have specific focuses. if web 2.0 in canada ever gets going, maybe i’ll create a blog for that!
cheers, mark
It sounds like you are talking about “asides.” In wordpress it is a bit of a hack to do it, but it is well documented. See:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Adding_Asides
I am guessing that there are similar options for other blog platforms.
I have added The Daily Om to subscribed feed.
I look forward to the new content… As an aside, when did 57% become an overwhelming majority?
thanks for signing up tim. also “overwhelming” is in the eye of beholder so to speak. 😉
I think authoris should stick to one blog if they can. I don’t really understand the difference between TechCrunch and CrunchNotes and am somewhat miffed that it takes up two entries in my list.
pwb, well come to think of it, you won’t feel the difference unless you are looking, except fewer posts which means you get enough time to read. and comment. which you do anyway. if you look at daily om, you will see the difference though!
More common than you’d think, Om. I recently took down UnwireMyCity.com, refocused, and launched anew with more focus: MetroNetIQ.com. But I’m also working on my second blog, HumptyRedux.com, so I’ll have an outlet to comment on cultural change, my other passion. A blog needs focus and identity, but when you’re a blogger with strong opinions, its well-nigh impossible to sit silent just because the subject is outside your blog’s focus – enter … the secondary blog, or in is case, the Daily Om. Best of luck, love your writing.
Om,
Great idea!
It makes sense to split the opinion pieces from the shorter, quirky bites that brighten the blogsphere.
Any plans of taking the BroadbandWiki concept further? There is also a need for that type of reference material.
Keep up the good work,
Juan
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