Solo Practice

This provocative title is in response to a post by Stephanie West Allen where she discusses blogging and references back to a post by Alex Manchester who in turn responds to a post by James Dellow's Blogging Manifesto.

In James Dellow's Blogging Manifesto he states:

...the key difference between blogging and content management is the intent of the blogger to engage their readers on some level over a period of time, rather than simply broadcasting information. And that to me is best described as a conversation, although a hyper-connected one at that.

The crux of Dellow's manifesto is that the intention of blogging (conversation) pre-dates blogging platforms and that conversation has now blown past current blogging platforms to other social media.  Blogging platforms evolved to fulfill the need to converse with readers.  So, if conversation has now moved to other web-based applications has blogging become antiquated for conversation and now simply a platform for content management?  And does a platform for content management still make sense?

Alex Manchester comments:

For me these days a blog is little more than a sophisticated, easy-to-use website platform. A place where an individual or a department/function can have their own site quickly and easily. Simplistic that may be, but whether news posts or thought articles, the commenting or conversation aspect of blogging appears to by dying down in many places (just recently there was a flurry of blog posts suggesting that "comments were dead" - a scary thought for many companies just flicking the "On" switch on their corporate blogging initiatives....).

Yet blogs without comment aren't necessarily lacking in readership - or even participation. This is where the "intent" aspect of James D's manifesto falls down for me. I don't think conversations necessarily make a blog. To me they're a component, a module that can or cannot be there (and increasingly are not there).

Wow.  Just as people are starting to finally wrap their heads around the idea they actually need a blog someone comes along and says it's a great place to manage your content and present your expertise to the world versus a more static platform but if you want to have a conversation, not so much.

Well, I'll weigh in. The blogging platform is not antiquated as it remains the best internet attraction tool for the solo practitioner. Attraction of potential clients is the number one reason you will have a web presence and the best web presence for a potential client or referrer of clients (even other lawyers) is one built on software which supports blogging.  However, I do agree the conversational element of blogging has diminished.  Why? Because people are going where it's actually easier to connect and converse.  And if they can converse with you in an easier way, they are going to give you their comments through that same environment instead of leaving it on your blog.

If a blog author I know is on Twitter chances are I will contact them on Twitter (give them GREATER publicity for their post by putting the comment in the Twitter stream with a link to spread the word to those who follow me) and let them know I enjoyed the post.  It's better publicity for the author.  And it's faster, too.

If the author is not on Twitter, of course, I will leave a comment on their blog.  And those who have multiple-thousands of followers still get a voluminous amount of comments on their blogs (but I venture to say mainly because those commenting are not Tweeting yet).

Has the conversation moved?  I believe it's starting to.  Does that mean you should bypass building a blogging platform for content management and conversation with readers? Absolutely not. You do not exist today without a web presence and the best web presence is a robust blogging platform capable of evolving with you...whatever the evolution may be.

What do you think? When's the last time you left a comment on a blog?