Mark Evans

Why's Nick Carr So Grumpy?

No doubt, Nick Carr is a smart guy but why are his blog posts so curmudgeon-like? He took a break from one of his pony-horses, Wikipedia, to take healthy a swipe at how the blogosphere has become a world of the “A-listers” and the rest of us (which he creatively describes as “long tail bloggers”) who can't get any love or attention from the “A-listers”. Is that what it's all about, Nick? If a blogger does good stuff but doesn't get much attention is that a reason to quit? Why blog if it's just about getting attention? Is it all about getting hyper-links and lots and lots of readers? Sure, it's frustrating to write something as brilliant as one of those blogging superstars but get little readership, attention or even an appearance on TechMeme. Perhaps the “A-list” has something to do with first-mover advantage as people who have been blogging for awhile have the most readership/momentum. A lot of it has to do with profile/brand. Many “A-listers” have actively involved within their industries - whether they are executives, analysts, reporters - and naturally get more opportunities to “sell” people on reading their blogs. (I'm sure, for example, a chunk of my readership has to do with the profile as a National Post reporter and that I've been blogging since early-2004). So should “B-list” and “C-list” bloggers give up if they're as lonely as the Maytag repair man? If all they want is attention, walking away makes sense. But if they enjoy sharing their thoughts with even a small group of people, keeping blogging! Perhaps the point that Carr is raising - and it's an increasingly common theme - is the clear need for better search/discovery tools for the blogosphere because Technorati, Sphere, Google Blog Search, IceRocket, Blogdigger, Feedster, etc. are falling short in some respects. What a smart entrepreneur should do is create a “quality” engine that finds and profiles those brilliant posts by “B-list” and “C-list” bloggers.
More: CrunchNotes has a deliciously-titled response to Carr's post called “Is Carr the new Robin Hood, or Just an Asshole?”, Karl Martino offers his comment, which he posted on Carr's blog, while Rexblog has a good riff on Carr's medievel-themed post. The inspiration for Carr's post, by the way, is a post by Kent Newsome on who reads blogs other than other bloggers.
Addendum: A couple more thoughts - when you really think about it, Carr has a gift for getting attention that many bloggers, particularly those craving for more love, should follow. He writes provocative posts about a big target (Wikipedia, blogging, etc.) and then reaps the benefits (hyper-links, comments, traffic) of the uproar he creates. As well, you need to ask yourself why you blog. If it's simply attention, use some of Carr's tricks, or just write about why all of Google's new services are terrible…or something like that.