Good Stuff

Blogging about blogging

I had a really pleasant meeting with a couple of bright young students last week and have just got around to posting about it.

Anyway, Kirstine and Jakob came to ask me a whole load of questions about our corporate blog. It was really interesting to reflect on some issues which I hadn't (up until that point) really had reason to think about for more than a split second.

Hey guys, if you're reading by the way, I'd love to hear/see the results of our session.

I told them that one of my biggest frustrations as a contributor to this blog is that I don't get nearly enough feedback from readers. I know there aren't millions of you out there but there is what I could describe as a 'steady trickle' of visitors. So as an added incentive to readers here and for a limited period only, (basically as long as I can be bothered) I will be offering every person who leaves a comment on this blog a very special reward.

You will be allowed to dip your virtual hand into the 'good stuff tombola' and pull out a random prize. This prize might very well be personalised and has a very good chance of also being completely pointless but hey, you'll never know unless you leave a comment.

Scandinavian Treehugger required

Treehugger are looking for a writer in Scandinavia. Maybe it's you or someone you know. Hang on a minute, maybe it's me...

Seven blog virtues

Kathy Sierra's Seven Blog Virtues (for a Global Microbrand) post is worth a read. It occured to me while reading it, that you could almost apply all of these rules to life.

Less corporate, more me

I just read Sandra's post on the Stagis blog.

It's a very interesting discussion, especially when it comes to corporate blogging. Thanks to the blogoshere, we all have the platform to bear our souls and I guess the discussion is made even richer when you consider how much of your soul should be a part of the company blog?

This heart felt post by Russell Davies is very interesting reading. Just look at the response it gets.

The post script to this is that, after a short break from blogging, he eventually decided to separate his more personal post from his corporate stuff.

Personally, I think it's a vital that a corporate blog allows the soul of the individual shine through. Imagine a company blog where everyone felt they could contribute and express themselves in in their own authentic way. This collective expression is the closest you will get to defining a companies soul. That's why blogging is such a significant branding tool. And when I use the word branding, I don't mean in the traditional top down way. 'Let's try and manipulate people into thinking this or that about us' but more in a 'let's try and define what we beleive in and share it with likeminded user' kind of way.

Having said all that, I know that I month or two ago, I made a decision to be more proffesionally focused on our blog. On reflection, I think I'll go back to being a little more me and a little less Aid Agency when I write.

Hey, look what I'm reading!

This interesting section of interview comes via Johnny Moore..

Watts Wacker:

"Perhaps the biggest trend that I would pay attention to in the short run is that while consuming is never going to go away, consuming as the defining criteria for individuals is. We are now using our media consumption as opposed to our physical consumption to explain who we are.
So you don't go to a party anymore and say, you know, "Where'd you go to college? What kind of car do you drive? Where do you live?" Now you say "What do you blog? What websites do you surf? Have you read the article in Vanity Fair on terrorism in South America? Are you an Imus or a Stern person? Have you seen The Departed?"

Not sure whether I agree with this entirely, after all, we have always been able to define ourselves by the things we read and watch, but it's an interesting observation. I was just chatting earlier to some friends who run a commercial production company here in Copenhagen about how the stuff you send to others says so much about how you would like to be perceived by them.

Here's the full interview.

Secrets

Here's an interesting blog pointed out by Johnnie Moore. I've decided to post my own secret there.

Welcome to the Aid Agency's blog.

Good stuff is a place where all of us at The Aid Agency can post our daily thoughts. I hope, over time it will grow as our company does and it will become richer and more interesting as we do. It is not meant to be a slick 'corporate' site. In fact, the opposite. This is where you'll find out what we are really into as individuals and as a group. What makes us tick? What makes us sob? What makes us foam at the mouth with anger? Keep coming back over the years and you'll find out.

When Niels and I talked about this company and what we'd like to achieve, we both decided that whatever we achieve, it's really important we enjoy the journey along the way. Hopefully this blog will be a daily reminder of that, helping us live our working lives in the present and not to some insane five year plan. Here's to good stuff!