I spent nearly 2 weeks writing this post. At every turn, I questioned the wiseness, propriety, and basic common sense in putting forth these thoughts. But the more I read, DM’ed toward, or otherwise got pointed to, I notice that so many “experts” simply are not. Despite their experience (which is at best occasionally applicable), few people are either blogging their own ideas or adequately expanding upon others. In other words, just because you blog, you aren’t an expert. Don’t try to be.
A further disclaimer: I am an expert only in those things by which I have direct experience. I can’t (and won’t) claim any more or less. My experience is in marketing – specifically online marketing of musicians and music entities. I’ve had a few experiential diversions, and I have a boatload of opinions, but you’re not going to see me solving the financial crisis, or telling you who should play CF for the Red Sox. If I were to tell you that, I might say Jacoby Ellsbury. Of course, I’m also a Bostonian which gives me the inherent right to both advise and criticize the Red Sox to anyone that’ll listen. But I digress…
I came across a blog recently written by a former co-worker. The blog, written on the topic of marketing, basically takes other people’s ideas, explains them in the least understandable fashion, and then attempts to lead the reader back around to make some suggestions based upon others’ ideas. Unfortunately for this blogger, English is not his/her first language, and the sentence structure (not to mention punctuation and spelling) fall apart. At points, the blog is extremely difficult to read. If the blogger is truly an expert marketer (as claimed), why would they write this way? Maybe I’m just not savvy enough to understand.
A former client also writes a blog. This blog focuses on lessons for up and coming indie artists. Tips, tricks, and useful hints. Fair game for sure, but the blog consistently fails to give real, pithy advice. Instead, unimaginative sentences tell you what you likely already know. The writing seems to suggest that the ideas are unique to the author. It would be as if I wrote that I “discovered” this small sporting venue just outside of Kenmore Square in Boston. The name is Fenway Park. You’d think I was an idiot for “discovering” something everyone else already knew. And so this blog blathers on and on and on …
And then there are millions of other blogs, unrepentant in their misguided virtuosity, which simply cause excess white noise and simultaneously obfuscate good writing and true ideas from being spread. In a way, this lack of a “gatekeeper” mirrors the music industry as well. With the Internet as the great leveler, anyone can call themselves a musician.
Is that really a good thing?
