Blogging Is As Blogging Does: An Answer to Potts’ Decline of Blogging Series Part 2

For those who missed the first post: Blogging Is As Blogging Does: An Answer to Potts’ Decline of Blogging Series Part 1

I continue my answer to Pott’s Decline of Blogging post by addressing his second underlying point in the post.? The point being bias in writing and putting money where your mouth is.

We temper our positions so we don?t risk our fragile credibility.

First, I don’t think there is anything fragile, per se, about a blogger’s credibility. If one finds their credibility fragile, there are probably some really good reasons for it. Tempering positions would be one of them. I’d argue the precise opposite. I think tempering ones’ position leads to a loss in credibility. Bloggers and blog readers are great at sniffing this out. I’ll again point out that I think this post was good for Potts because he appears to be digging deep to find his voice. Kudos there.

Here’s the problem. Fundraising.

David is basically arguing that we need to go beyond the “rhetoric” and start raising money. One problem with that. We don’t have the numbers of readers to effectively raise cash. We joke that nobody reads blogs and it’s half true. Great numbers of people don’t read blogs. The important few do, though. The thing is this demographic, while influential, isn’t the same demographic that will donate money based on their readership of blogs. Exhibit A is Potts’ own ActBlue fundraising badge which has garnered 3 contributions of $60 total since he put it up over a week ago.

We’re much better at the rhetoric thing.

Think about it. Did I raise money for Mike Foley? Nope. Did I help get him elected? You bet your ass I did. We all did, collectively – and with zero cash. How much was my decision to call Bill Ritter and record it worth? How much was Tim’s McCain-Palin Mob video worth?

Again. Blogging is not about covering stories or keeping up with the MSM. MSM in this day and age is blog food. No sense playing that game. Play the advocacy game via rhetoric. It’s more powerful. Blogging is not about raising money, at least at this level. Unless and until we begin to get the types of visitor numbers that will support calling on readers to fund races we are better off doing what it is we do. Bang. Hard. Change narratives. Make the MSM talk about what we are talking about. Correct them when they are wrong. Challenge other campaigns relentlessly and advocate for our own just as hard. Put your rhetorical fist in the air and stand your ground.

Mix it up. Go gonzo. Have fun.

PS – Would I do the whole Hackett-Brown thing all over again? Absolutely. Hindsight is a waste of time.