 |
| Tuesday, 12 February 2008 |
| Using Google to find a place to rant |
I read a post on John Chow dot com this morning, which contained this paragraph:
Understand most readers have an information requirement Once your content has slipped into your archive, search engine users will become your key demographic. Users from search engines will reach your content because they were told the answer to their question is on your page.
It seems to be taken for granted that search engine users are looking for information: they want answers to questions. I think bloggers in particular need to be aware that their archives are being searched for more than just information: search engine users are looking for a place to rant.
On TB we have a lot of old posts complaining about the sorts of things eBayers complain about: PayPal issues, and echeques in particular are a favourite. We talk about non-eBay auction sites, non-paying bidders, and feedback. We talk about companies, too, especially those who cause their customers problems. Some of these posts are still gathering comments months after they were written, and - here's the bit I think's interesting - even when there is a newer post on a similar topic on the front page of the blog.
These commenters don't seem to be seeking factual information. Instead, they want a place to tell their own problems: "I hate PayPal echeques too, I had one the other day and it bounced after four weeks and they didn't even email me..." might be a typical sort of comment.
Where am I going with this thought? It seems to me that Google is rendering the chronological blog format almost pointless. Even with datestamping *and* the "old post" tag for posts older than 6 months, still they come. Blog conversations don't necessarily happen only when the blogger starts them: they can start up again months later, and when we think we've moved on.
If blogs are going to be community - and I think they are already - then we need to change the format for some of them. The long scrolly format, with comments in a pop-up or a single post page, works well for a blog that (like this one) is essentially a diary. But it doesn't expand well into reader involvement. The elements of forum we've brought into TB have worked well (ironically, better than our forum): gravatars went down well, as did comment editing. Many of our commenters are now talking to each other without our involvement: there *is* a community happening, and now I feel our format needs to change to reflect that.
There must be something between the long scroll of the blog, and the punchy, excluding format of the forum. There must be something really user-friendly... I just need to figure out what it is. |
| posted @ 12:01 |
|
|
|
Suzie's Book Pages | Blogger Templates by Gecko & Fly.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without permission.
|
| |
|
|
