Does the word "blogger" sound dirty to you? I must admit that it sounds unattractive to me and I much prefer to talk about my website about marketing "Servant of Chaos" rather than my efforts at "blogging". So it was interesting to check out David Armano’s excellent Conversation by Design deck delivered this weekend at SOBcon where he announces that we should STOP calling ourselves bloggers!
And for those of us who were not able to make the trek to Chicago, David points us to Jason Alba’s fantastic blow-by-blow description of what must have been a GREAT weekend.
While I’m among the first to say that most blogging is merely marketing, I’ve got to admit that there is a certain amount of “mystique” to the term blogger.
While I’ve never used the term to describe myself, a few of my clients LOVE using the term to describe themselves. Usually these are “technically challenged” folk who are extremely proud of “mastering” the art of publishing content to the world wide web.
Gavin,
Wish you were there! I focused my rationale around this statement by encouraging the audience to pinpoint their true passion and harness it. Seth is brilliant marketer. Hugh is an artist, cartoonist and satirist. Me? At the core, I am a creative problem solver.
And because I have embraced this—it makes my blog unique. You can still call me a blogger—I won’t be offended, but when push comes to shove, I know what makes me tick. And this is what fuels my “personal brand”.
Loved that SlideShare presentation, David. Also I completely agree – it’s not that “blogger” is an epithet all the time – it’s just that “conversation architect,” “community builder,” “news publisher” or a hundred other designations might be far more specific and appropriate. I use a cell phone almost daily – but does that mean I’m just a “phone user?” Etc.
So, if someone is a problogger, would he now be called a “pro conversation architect”? 🙂 I need to grab that domain name before Darren Rowse does!
But seriously, this is the first convincing argument I’ve ever heard for not calling yourself a blogger.
I still think terms like “web publisher” and “community builder” sound a bit grandiose, and the only place anyone could pull off a title like “conversation architect” is in a room full of professional marketers.:-)
But I see what you guys are saying–as far as using your blog as a marketing/communication platform, we could get a little more descriptive than just saying we’re “bloggers”.
I actually say that I am a writer, rather than a blogger, although I don’t think I could ever keep a straight face while saying “I’m a conversation architect”. 🙂
Sharon,
Call yourself a writer. The conversation architect concept is meant to broaden the idea of blogging. It’s not meant to be an actual title.
So I love slides 18 & 27. I wouldn’t talk about my “personal brand” (because someone from Interbrand might put a price on my head) but I would absolutely agree that finding a voice is critical – and that you find this by focusing on what you are passionate about and trying to write about it. Not ready to throw the term “blogger” in the bin just yet…
I’ve had that realization for a while…just haven’t owned it. Thanks David. I’m going to choose to call myself Dawud. I don’t need another title. I’ll use titles where appropriate, but I see people engaging me because of me. Not because I’m identified as a blogger or writer. Just my opinion.
Thanks for everything David.
@David Armano: I was actually just doing a little bit of teasing ;-).
I get it– “Conversation architect” is an idea, a way of thinking of yourself and approaching how you use your blog, rather than a label that you use to identify yourself to other people.
Since first reading this post a couple days ago, I have been thinking that it’s sort of the difference btw thinking of yourself as someone who is a sculptor of stone and someone who simply smashes rocks with a hammer.
I think with a lot of bloggers, there is a hunger to be something more than just a “blogger”. We’re starting to see the difference btw smashing and sculpting; we may have started out just imitating what we saw others doing, but that gets old after a while, and we end up searching for something that will feed our souls.
We want to be something more than just a laborer, a churner out of posts. I’ve been struggling with trying to move from being a laborer to being an artist for several months now.
Changing the mindset goes a long way–a sculptor rather than a laborer; a conversation architect rather than a blogger.
@ sharon. You said it better than I ever could. 🙂