Change we need?

Considering the nature of the post, its a bit of paradoxical way to start. But it is the place the thought started – Dina’s post on The Paradox of the Wisdom of Crowds. It made me look at the way this blog has evolved. But before that, about the matter under discussion – in the attempts to make sure that we’re ‘tuned in’ to the blogosphere, we’ve begun to recycle posts and thoughts so much that there is very less of independent thinking. See, I told you it was a paradox.

When i started this blog, the intention was only to have a place where i could air my ‘brand’ thoughts, in an Indian context. Because there was very little blog content around that (at least that i knew of) the thoughts were fairly independent. But somewhere down the line, the social media bug bit me, and I started writing about that too.

That also meant that I had to follow the thought leaders in the social media/internet scene. So the Google Reader was stuffed with ‘Those Who Shall Not be Named’, and the list kept growing till (now) it’s a race against time to finish reading the stuff. As i commented on Dina’s post, I really don’t have the time to be original, and am (unfortunately) willing to chew on the nth generation cud, and pass it on to whoever is next.

But, my way of adding value has been very simple. I aggregate from diverse sources and try to push the ideas along a line of thought. That’s very little originality. Even if i have to pat myself on the back, it can only be for stepping back and trying to see a pattern. Actually, a short while before Dina’s post, my thoughts had been going in this direction. But before we get to that, i feel there are two kinds of pressure that i can easily discern when writing about social media, web etc. One is ‘breaking’ news, the other is ‘knowing’ news. I am not in the former so I don’t feel that pressure. But I am not immune to the other. So there are links that show that I ‘know’ the news. This is because I’d hate some guy commenting (not that i get many) ‘Oh, XYZ had this article you should read. In it, he……..’  Childish, but true!! I’ve also been thinking whether sub consciously, it was a behaviour similar to some brands i rant about – a way of keeping the conversation in one’s own territory. But the result of these games is that I end up creating content for the people who write about similar things .. a very cyclical way of content generation.

Nothing wrong with a self sustaining system, but its not great for an emerging scenario like social media, where new thoughts are the order of the day. Otherwise, if everyone links to everyone else, and everyone read everyone else, er, someday we’ll all figure out we’ve been moving in circles.

But something changed, and that’s what made me think on a change in direction – my increased usage of Friendfeed, where I am able to share my Google Reader ‘knowing news’. 🙂 Of course, that’s a lil race too. Because I realise after i shared, that I am duplicating what someone has already shared. So, a few corrective measures that I’ve planned – a churning of the feeds I have subscribed in Google Reader, reading FF before sharing the Reader stuff, and through these I hope I can effect some changes in the contents of this blog, and add more value here.

The only thing that worries me, though, is that I have no clue what the readers of the blog want. So,  before I adjust the content according to my learning curve, I’d like to hear from you. Also, i have a rating mechanism for your perusal. Right beneath the title on the post page. Please use that liberally. And then, i shall hope that the wisdom of the crowds will guide me.

until next time, sorry Obama