DISQUS

You have been tagged Julius - see instructions here:
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I am with you 100% - see my post on the word "incent" - and the comments - very interesting.

http://incentive-intelligence.typepad.com/incen...

You hit on the real motivator - it wasn't the TV -it was all the things they were going to do now that the TV is there. It's the "experience" of using the TV. It's the Xbox frag nights, the "Knocked Up" movie fests with friends - not the TV. The value of that TV is exponentially more to them than the purchase price (although for the money behind a 58" plasma would probably get me moving as well.)

That's the key - connect the item to the experience.

As common sense would indicate there would be a direct connection between performance and ability.

However, I think what you're citing as a reference (cycling)-is really about practice and competency in a specific task. If I have a task to do - I can get better at it if I practice more.

My point isn't to disagree - since I believe that we need to gain proficiency in our work - and practice is one way to gain proficiency - but success and results are different than proficiency.

I would suggest that success/results are also the direct effect of looking outside your "competency" area and connecting ideas/thoughts/insights together to change what you're doing to get a better result.

If we're simply measuring results - I could win a cycling event by combining the information on bicycles with the information on engines that supplant human power and create motorized bicycle and win the race. Little to do with practice - a lot to do with looking outside my box for ideas.

Thoughts?

You da man! Well deserved.

The time to dump a consultant is when they start talking. If they are listening you probably got a good one.

Frank:

I too have been thinking about this a lot. Mostly because - even with increased subscriptions, increased mentions in the blogosphere and some nice affirmations from fellow bloggers - my technorati rating is taking a hit. I started asking myself if that number - the number of blogs that link to me - was all that important.

I'm sure you, like a lot of us, are spending time thinking about original content versus simply connecting to existing content. It's not about links anymore. It's about value. How do we measure the value of the post and the blog in general.

There is the value I place on my own blog - does it lead to new business - heck - that's one of the main reasons I started it in the first place. Then there is the value I place on other blogs - does it enhance the way I do my job - am I learning, adapting, etc. Very difficult, and different, measurement tasks.

Subscriptions seem to be a good proxy - it does indicate the number of people who find the content valuable enough to click and connect. Whether feed reader or email. To me that is a good indicator that the effort is paying off.

I'm more convinced than ever that business blogs are less about conversation and more about connection. Are people connecting to the content - whether they comment or not. Comments are bonus points.

You ask a great question. My take is that on your personal blog the "commenters" are more connected and more invested in you personally and therefore have a greater desire to comment. On the professional blog, the readers are looking for information and ammunition to start other conversations with their colleagues within their organization. In other words - it's about them not you on the business side.

I also believe as the medium has matured the quality of blogs postings has gone up and the need to comment has gone down (IMHO.) Many posts I read don't require a comment because they do a great job of establishing their point of view backed up with good logic. I read it, file it and use it for future work and to expand my own thinking.

In addition, the number of blogs I read has gone up - leaving me less time to comment. I want my comments to be at least as good as the post so they take time. Sometimes they take as much time as it takes to put a post up on my own blog. I therefore am very selective about where I comment. I would submit that the number of comments you have posted has decreased as you spend more time reading other blogs and writing quality posts on your own. Just a guess.

I liken it to being at a cocktail party. When the number of people is small you have deeper more engaged conversations. As the number of attendees grows, there are fewer, deeper conversations. You bounce around listening in and looking for a specific conversation where you think you can add value and where you can have a more substantive dialogue.
Sometimes you find it - sometimes you don't. But by spending time in that conversation you miss out on others. A choice is made... listen in on a lot of conversations but contribute less, or contribute more to one conversation and listen in on fewer.

It does make it harder from an author's perspective.

I now wonder if conversation is the appropriate metric for judging the success of a blog. Kris Dunn at HRCapitalist uses a metric for his HR Power Blog List based on whether he forwards your blog info on to others.

I think that is a good way to judge the quality of a post versus comments.

Sorry for the ramble but I think you've hit on an important conversation.