Monday, November 05, 2007

Comment Victoriously

It's hard to get people to comment. I usually consider a post a big success if I get two (since, of course, I can respond to each and bump it up to 4!). I know some of my fellow Gen GuY bloggers agree.
Last week, a very well-respected (especially in the planning world), -liked (he once received hundreds of comments after writing a heart-felt post about blogging), and -read (actually that's an assumption; more appropriately would be "oft-read" on his blog and in Campaign magazine) guy named Russell Davies held a contest. The prize a copy of Mark Penn's Microtrends dictated the challenge: Come up with your own microtrend(s) and leave them in the comments to be voted on by Jeremy from Penguin. (I linked to the Penguin site for the book rather than Amazon to show love.) I'm happy to announce I was one of the winners.

My favorite happened to come from John Dodds, another planner I have been inspired by. It was: "The Unwell - people going online, erroneously diagnosing themselves with worst case scenarios on the basis of symptoms and no knowledge." So true. I submitted three and was talking with a few friends on Saturday night about them, and we all seemed to have a different opinion about which we liked most/least. It got a little heated with the Sake bombs flowing, so I thought I'd put it up to vote. (Plus, I like using Vizu polls as some of you know from the Flu Shot one I created - which probably supports The Unwell.)


Here are the descriptions:
Playground Papa's - think the prom king from little children (movie) or joe from brothers and sisters (tv). Men who embrace being the primary caretaker and man of the house-hold chores but also make sure they stay manly. (This does not require any infidelity though the ex's suggest it.) Also known as the triple P's (add Progressive) and/or Soccer Dads.

Diversuburbanites
- You won't find diversity in major cities anymore, you'll have to go out to the surrounding suburbs. And that's what many recent grads and young families are going to do to have a more rich and multi-cultural life.

Thru-breds
- People who grew up IMing, texting, blogging, etc. but now fail to use proper grammatical English in the traditional world. This slang/shorthand is not just used in emails but also infiltrates presentations, legal documents, and love letters.

I don't know how much crossover there is between our blogs. But I'm assuming that only a handful of people that come here daily also read him regularly. Even if he's got me totally covered, you may have not read his contest in time or you may not have had the time to consider or you may have felt you had to say something intelligent in his comment box. Rest assured—and I'm sure most of you know—you don't have to feel that sort of pressure here. (I'm a couple days away from posting my next Inbox of Immaturity, which amongst other things will have an officer's awkward pat down of a suspicious character on the street.)

So, if you have some microtrends to add to the mix, I'd love to hear them.

6 comments:

Matt.Johnson said...

What about Fauxhemians? Creating online personas is nothing new, however I've noticed an influx of young New Yorkers creating similar profiles. The "loft-living Tribeca artist" that keeps a day job as a computer consultant? The Ernst & Young accountant that really should be a "fiction writer"? These wannabees also fit nicely into another microtrend, the Nouveau Yorker. I'd describe these people as the ones that love New York but have no appreciation or knowledge of its history. They usually tend to have the interesting resume interest of "traveling."

Matt.Johnson said...

that last one was justin writing... also another one- i don't have a catchy name for it but it's the act of spending more time organizing yourself to be productive than actually being productive. people spend more time setting up their DVRs, igoogle pages, rss feeds, blackberrys, facebook pages, etc. than they do actually accomplishing the things that these organizational tools are supposed to enable.

litty said...

Plagers -- People who get their opinions from various niche news distribution outlets (blogs, email chains, podcasts) and then pawn it off as their own original ideas.

Fakebookers -- Older people who go on facebook, don't know how to use it, don't have any friends, don't do anything substantial, never logon and then talk about how much they love it.

Jeez, I'm pretty cynical.


Also, my thought on comments. My readers never leave them either no matter how much I ask. There's no point in forcing it. Instead i try to understand why they don't leave comments (afraid to write in public, not sure what is appropriate, etc). Also, when i see people in person and they start talking about my blog i guess that counts as a comment even if it is a different medium.

Seth said...

MattJustin: Ha! You've captured the best of both worlds thought better than R. Kelly and Jay-Z. Now, I need to go back and check my resume though.

MattMatt: "Ever Organizers" may sum that thought up. I love the contradiction there. I'll keep thinking.

Litty: I like those two and think they're very real. Similar to Plagers, but without the actual stealing is one about how people's first instinct is to seek out answers online (google) instead of considering what they think first. Maybe we can call them "Searching for Answers". Agree on comments. Think NoahBrier.com does a good job at creating community on his site through its form - comments get front page exposure and display next to the post.

Jake said...

I voted for the thru-bred (I h8 those ppl) although I have to say that the fauxhemian is by far my favorite. Kudos, Justin.

I also dislike the Fundit Followers. This includes people who get their news from Stewart or Colbert, and who think that Carlin/Black is a winning presidential ticket.

TTYL,
Jake

Seth said...

compelling comment jake, thru-breds just gained a vote. the fundit followers will likely use the writers strike to gain support for their ticket.