Jon Gordon of Future Tense is asking for bloggers to make a resolution. I think it’s time for a revolution. We need to be done with the lists. They aren’t helping anyone, and really it’s just mindless blog fodder used to attract hapless Googlers to your site. When’s the last time you read one of those lists and thought “wow, I really learned something from that?” I’d venture to guess it might have been in 2004.
This week, and remember it’s only Wednesday, I counted no less than 14 different list posts in my Google Reader.
Enough!
Full disclosure: In the past, I’ve been quite an egregious list maker. Though my lists tend toward the absurd and not “18 Ways You Can Use Twitter to Annoy the Internet.” But still, a list is a list is a list.
As a blogger, I’d like to place the onus of this lackadaisical approach to producing blog content solely on the writers, but they are not the only ones to blame. Everyone who clicks one of those links, tweets it, or links to it is guilty. So let’s just stop. All of us. I will, I promise. Though, it does sadden me that my stunning list “14 Ways to Annoy Your Cubemate by Dissing Jack Kerouac” will never see the light of day.
Once we tackle the lists, we’ll start in on the Social Media experts. I think Michael Pinto of Fanboy might be on the right track with this problem.
