Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

“We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.” - Robert Wilensky

Of course, some are still debating who really did Shakespeare’s writing. Did Willie, the ill-educated slob, write all that deathless prose? Or was it Francis Bacon? Might have even be Queen Elizabeth (although I think she was probably too busy with things like the Spanish Armada to do much writing for fun.) It could have even been a big bunch of monkeys armed with quill pens. All that said, there are a lot of people that can’t stand Shakespeare and don’t see what all the fuss is about. And, let’s face it - the comedies are a bit - um - dated.

Or, as Truman Capote snipped about Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” “That’s not writing, that’s typing.” Whoaa….just do a quick google and see how many disagree with Mr. Capote.

And, so it is goes with blogging. It’s as good or bad - as trivial or thought-provoking - as the writer and the reader. For example, the cutesy Manolo the shoe guy’s blog is pretty much a yawn for me. Once was definitely enough. However, it has many fans and is reportedly making a lot of money for “Manolo.” So, good for him/her/them! It’s all about knowing the target and talking to them in their language.

One thing is for certain - blogging enables an online community and ease of communications, such as never before possible. Sure, the blogosphere is messy, sometimes irritating, often confusing…but when even the Big Blue Elephant is touting blogging as a marketing tool - something’s going on!

And yet more on business blogging from The Long Tail. Will it ever be a “CEO thing?” Maybe, maybe not.