This is a weblog post

Some of us are really really obsessed with metrics, but Geoff Livingston cautioned us about the metric that is easiest to measure.

perhaps the catch comes early in this How-to celebration of Julia Allison’s rise to fame. It doesn’t raise money, it’s not part of her day job, and there is no financial reward. But, hey she gets invited to lots of parties with folks that most people read about in US or People.

I guess if that’s what you want, great, but I see no value in it. Too many of the daily business activities that occur in creating social media brands are really thinly veiled disguises to pursue personal Internet Fame (a.k.a. Personal Brand). And that’s a management error, as well as a youthful mistake on the part of the individual. Because quite frankly, if it doesn’t have a business objective, that junk belongs on the p.m. dial for the ambitious seeking to reclaim their high school popularity contests.

OK, so assume that you don't want to just have a lot of associates, but that you really want to engage people. How do you do that? Samir Balwani has some suggestions. Here are the first three:

Comment on Other Blogs

When you comment on other blogs in the same field as you, you’ll find that often the blogger will comment on yours. You’ve joined the blogging community and created interaction between your blog and theirs.

Good idea, since interaction begets...interaction.

Ask Readers to Comment

The easiest way to build blog comments is by simply asking your readers to leave a comment.

Another good point. Apart from the obvious point that if you don't ask for something you may not get it, you want to make people feel welcome to provide comments. (The old "I appreciate your views and share your concerns" thingie.)

Time for point three:

Write Controversial Posts

Taking one side of a debate is just asking for a deluge of comments. If it’s an especially viral post, be prepared for comments, for better and worst.

I had a problem with Samir's wording here. I wish he had said "thought-provoking" rather than controversial. Anyone can be controversial; I almost entitled this blog post "Anyone who doesn't read this is a complete and total idiot." I then opted for the vanilla title you see above.

See, I figure that if you want to have a lot of "friends" and be controversial, you can always be Harvey Levin.

And I hate Harvey Levin.

Sphere: Related Content