Photo by Margaret Anne Clarke used under Creative Commons
A couple people have noted lately that my posting output has increased.
This isn’t entirely by accident; lately there are more interesting bits of news than normal. Usually, I have an opinion about them, and I want to poll you all to start up a discussion.
Or I’m just feeding the iPhone lurkers.
I’ve talked about Google Reader frequently in the past because: a) it’s my feed reader of choice and b) I enjoy finding new content by browsing other people’s shared items. It’s actually a pretty good semantic filter for the ‘tubes, more on than in a future post.
Anyway, producing blog posts is sometimes fun and sometimes a damn chore. So, I’ve been chatting with Rich about pumping our Reader Shared Items feeds into this blog.
This has a couple advantages.
First, it’s less work for me, w00t! Not that I won’t continue to blog, but it will keep the content fresh and your unread count high.
Second, it should build conversation around stuff we (OK, probably I) find interesting, e.g. this item today about how Linux is “holding our kids back”; an item like this might not warrant a full post, since there’s not much I could add, but it’s still a topic I think we’d find interesting.
Third, lately it helps feed the lurkers content; that’s the accepted term and not meant as a negative. I’ve heard from several people internally that they read here frequently, and yet, I never see comments from these people. My assumption is that they would appreciate more content. Correct me if I’m wrong, heh in the comments.
Finally, it might help this blog take on a more representative personality, i.e. this is a team blog, not my personal dumping ground for opinions and other crap that interests me. The rest of the ‘Lab find blogging to be a chore, so adding their feeds helps them overcome that hump.
So what do you think of this plan, and why am I asking?
I’m asking because I think many/some people don’t like blogs that push out periodic link posts in the absence of real content. And I don’t want to waste Rich’s time and effort setting this up if no one wants it.
Let me know what you think in the comments. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
I'd just ask that you make it optional by providing a feed for full posts, a feed for Reader shared items, and a combined feed. Advertise whichever one you want, but make an option available 🙂
That sounds like a nice way of saying “no” 🙂 which is fine. I'm not biased either way, which is why I threw it up for a vote.
And it sounds like more work for me.
“I’m asking because I think many/some people don’t like blogs that push out periodic link posts in the absence of real content”
Once in a great while link posts with comments are fine, but I prefer posts with meat on them. The word “periodic” suggest to me regularly which in case I'd frown upon from any blog I'm subscribed and reading. Hey, you asked 🙂
That's fair. When you get a weekly links post combined with real content during the week, that works for me. When you get only links posts and very little original content, that bores me.
It's looking like a pretty easy no right now, which is fine. Just asking.
I prefer hearing what Jake (and Rich and Paul) have to say. Not so interested in reading a bunch of other stuff. I come here for your opinions.
Sure, I have no problem sharing my opinions. I wish the blog reflected the team more, and not just b/c it get tedious to blog so much.
It's looking like a clean sweep against. I'm glad we didn't invest any effort.